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By John Ogunsemore
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said the wave of defections of opposition governors to the All Progressives Congress (APC) is not a show of the ruling party’s strength but evidence of pressure and intimidation.
Atiku said this while reacting to Friday’s defection of Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State to the APC.
Fintiri, formerly of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), announced his defection to the APC alongside his entire cabinet in a state-wide broadcast.
He hinged his defection on the “developmental interest” of the people of the state.
Reacting to the defection, presidential aide, Bayo Onanuga described it as a “big blow” to Adamawa-born Atiku, whom he advised to reassess his 2027 presidential ambition.
Maintaining that Fintiri had turned “APC into an Adamawa juggernaut”, Onanuga said about Atiku, “If a politician is not so popular at home, he has no business selling his candidacy to outsiders.”
However, Atiku downplayed the impact of Fintiri’s defection in a Friday statement signed by his media office.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain stated that political realignments were not new as politicians often defect for political survival.
According to him, every politician is free to choose a path, a right that should be respected.
He added that even his children were free to take independent political positions but insisted that “anyone — including his son — who chooses to stand with Nigerians rather than the APC is standing on the side of patriotism”.
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Atiku argued that the 2027 general election would be a “straight fight between Bola Tinubu and the APC on one side, and the Nigerian people on the other”.
Atiku warned that the wave of defections by opposition governors is not a sign of APC strength, but evidence of pressure and intimidation.
He accused the Tinubu administration of weaponising state institutions to bully political opponents in a desperate bid to turn Nigeria into a one-party state.
“This government fears accountability. It fears credible elections. It fears the people,” he said.
Atiku emphasised that no amount of coercion can erase the daily hardship Nigerians face, including rising hunger, crushing poverty, worsening insecurity, and mass unemployment caused by failed economic policies.
“Governors may defect for personal survival. Nigerians are defecting in their millions because they want survival,” the ADC presidential hopeful said.
Atiku urged citizens not to confuse political cross-carpeting with popularity.
“What will the APC campaign on in 2027 — hunger? hardship? hopelessness?” he asked.
He reminded Nigerians that power ultimately belongs to them and warned against vote-selling.
“Do not trade your future. Do not mortgage your children’s tomorrow. In 2027, the people will have their say — and their will shall prevail,” he stressed.
