Senator Adams Oshiomhole has redirected the discussion on the recent wave of political defections to former President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Oshiomhole, a native of Edo State, suggested that Atiku would be the ideal author to explore the reasons behind politicians switching parties.
Oshiomhole highlighted that Atiku, the former Vice President and PDP’s presidential candidate for 2023, had defected from the PDP while still holding the position of vice president.
During an interview on Channels Television, Oshiomhole responded to inquiries about the influx of politicians into the APC.
The sight of the Delta State governor joining APC has left many Nigerians puzzled.
Oshiomhole said, “I’m speaking to you as somebody who has been governor, who knows that this is a possibility, that they can win election without joining the APC, absolutely.
“I ran my election as opposition, two times. In 2007, the PDP rigged me out. I went to court. I fought them and I won.
“And in 2012 I went for a rerun, and I won. So I understand the meaning of opposition. The point is, if you are in a place, even the Nigerian constitution recognizes, if your party is in tatters, the time you should have spent on state matters, you are spending the time on party matters, rather [move].
“But let me remind you that those who started defection, the man the most popular one in the history of Nigeria, is His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, when as a sitting Vice president of Nigeria he decamped from PDP to ACN, which is now part of APC.
“Was he coerced by ACN that were then led by Bola Tinubu, a non-state person as of that time?
“So that we had to settle all this argument about whether there is cohesion or no cohesion, was Atiku Abubakar coerced by Tinubu to come and join ACN?
“I was governor in ACN; so I am familiar with the issue in the ACN. Atiku left Obasanjo in PDP to come and pick our ticket and run as president.
“Now, did we force him or coerce him to leave our party and return back to PDP to go and contest with, I believe Jonathan, and when he lost, with Jonathan as president, did we have the instrument to coerce him to return to the APC to contest the primaries against general Buhari, who later became the president and now former president?
“I think the best person who can write a book on why people decamp should be the former vice president. It will be nice to ask him, as a sitting vice president, you left your party.”
