Atiku: APC wishes ex-VP goodluck, fears mass defection

According to Abdullahi, Atiku did not formally inform the APC about his decision to leave the party.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has wished former vice president Atiku Abubakar 'good luck' after he announced his resignation from the ruling party.

The APC spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, stated this on Friday, November 24, 2017, at the party's headquarters in Abuja.

According to Abdullahi, Atiku did not formally inform the APC about his exit.

He said, "Politics is about interest, we have not seen any formal notification to that effect but base on what we have seen in the social media we can say all together is surprising but for us politics is all about interest.

"So, if the former vice-president feels that his interest is better served elsewhere, we can always wish him good luck. For us, the task of building a political party is not a day’s job; its marathon and it takes many years and we will continue to improve on our system until we are able to get the kind of party that we want to really, really build.

"It takes many years to build a strong political party. In a new party, you find some people are happy, some people are not so happy and everybody would have to take their decisions at some point. So, we don’t have anything to say rather than to wish the former vice-president good luck."

 

He said Atiku's exit cannot be described at the moment but that the situation could change if many of his supporters decide to go with him.

"A loss of fortune is in numbers. So, if we are able to see the number of people that followed the former vice-president to his new party that is when we will begin to worry.

"So, when we see we will know whether we need to worry or not. It is about number."

In his resignation statement released on Friday, Atiku did not indicate the new party he would join but it is believed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is his destination, ahead of the party's December convention.

Reports say Atiku's end game is to clinch the PDP ticket for the 2019 presidential election, as his ambition may never see the light of day if he remains in the APC.

ALSO READ: Nobody can match Buhari's popularity, El-Rufai tells ex-VP

Although the ruling party has repeatedly said that there would not be an automatic ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the 2019 race, many have argued that no candidate can beat Buhari to it.

SOURCE - PULSE.NG posted by Campus94