By Aoiri Obaigbo
I can safely guess there’ll be Additional Disruptive Consequences for that alliance. While I used to admire the Atiku machine and enormous war chest in those days, especially because of the role he played exposing the hypocrisy of Buhari and Idiagbon over the unknown suitcases, he’s now more of a blind elephant trampling through the political supermarket of Nigeria.
Atiku Abubakar’s relentless ambition and reckless lack of tact have fractured every political alliance he’s joined and ultimately weakened the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), beginning with his early fallout with President Obasanjo.
Atiku Abubakar’s political journey is marked not just by ambition but by a pattern of disruption. His tenure as Vice President under Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007 began with promise, but quickly went toxic. After Obasanjo’s first term, Atiku openly opposed his re-election bid, insisting that his boss had no right to run again. This act of defiance was unprecedented and deeply divisive, setting the tone for years of internal strife within the PDP. It was a declaration of personal ambition over party unity. This has become his campaign anthem ever since.
The first fallout led to Atiku’s first major defection. In 2006, he left the PDP for the Action Congress (AC), a move that fractured the party’s base and weakened its cohesion ahead of the 2007 elections. Though he returned to the PDP, the damage had been done. His repeated exits and re-entries—five major defections in total—turned the PDP into a revolving door, eroding trust and stability within the party.
A little pinch of self discipline in those early days, and he would have smoothly become president after Obj. But the man is rich in everything but foresight.
Each alliance Atiku joined seemed to suffer the same fate. His stint with the All Progressives Congress (APC) from 2014 to 2017 ended in another dramatic exit, once again citing irreconcilable differences. Which means he couldn’t buy the ticket. His return to the PDP in 2017 was framed as a homecoming, but it quickly became clear that his ambition to secure the presidential ticket was non-negotiable. Internal party democracy took a back seat as Atiku’s camp pushed aggressively for his candidacy, alienating key stakeholders and deepening factional divides.
This pattern reached a critical point in the lead-up to the 2023 elections. The PDP, in an effort to restore balance and honour its rotational principles, had zoned the presidential ticket to the South. It was a strategic decision, meant to heal regional tensions and reaffirm the party’s commitment to equity. Yet Atiku, unmoved by consensus, declared his candidacy regardless. His unilateral move not only undermined the zoning arrangement but also alienated the influential G5 governors—formerly the G7—who felt betrayed. Their rebellion fractured the party’s campaign machinery and created a visible rift that the PDP struggled to mend. What was meant to be a moment of renewal became another chapter in the party’s internal crisis, driven once again by Atiku’s refusal to yield, to subordinate his ambition to party unity.
By 2025, Atiku had formally resigned from the PDP, citing a divergence from its founding ideals. But many observers saw it as the final act in a long saga of personal ambition overriding collective interest. His departure left the PDP fragmented, with weakened morale and a shrinking support base. The party that once dominated Nigeria’s political landscape now struggles to define itself without the shadow of Atiku’s influence.
Atiku’s political legacy is not just one of movement across party lines—it’s a trail of broken alliances, disrupted coalitions, and a party left in disarray. His ambition, while admirable in its consistency, has proven destabilising to the very structures he seeks to lead. The PDP’s decline is not solely his doing, but his role in unraveling it is undeniable. Atiku didn’t just leave the PDP. He hollowed it out from within, and buried it alive.
Atiku Abubakar’s move to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has reignited concerns that his inability to see beyond his personal ambition may once again destabilise a fragile political alliance, echoing the pattern that led to the nunc dimittis of the PDP.
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#politics
#Atikulated
#ambition