Atiku Should Write A Book On Defections As Nigeria’s Most Popular Defector, Says Oshiomhole

Wednesday May 14, 2025 |

Former Edo Governor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole has suggested that former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar should consider authoring a book on political defections in Nigeria, drawing from his own experience.

Speaking on Tuesday, May 13, during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, the Edo North lawmaker highlighted Atiku’s 2006 defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) while still serving as vice-president, calling it one of the most significant and widely debated party switches in the country’s political history.

Oshiomhole said such a publication would offer valuable insights into the motivations and dynamics behind frequent party defections among Nigerian politicians.

Oshiomhole said: “But let me remind you that those who started defection — 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 courted by no state at all?.

“Was he (Abubakar) courted by ACN, which was then led by Bola Tinubu — Asiwaju Tinubu — a non-state president at the time?

“Was Atiku Abubakar coerced by Tinubu to come and join us in ACN?.

“Did ACN coerce Atiku Abubakar to leave Obasanjo and PDP to pick our ticket and run as president?

“Did we force him to leave our party and return to PDP to contest against Jonathan?

“When he lost, did we coerce him, without being in government to come back to APC and run against Buhari?

“I think the best person who can write a book on why people decamp should be the former vice-president Atiku Abubakar.

“It would be nice to ask him — as a sitting vice-president — you left your party, and you were courted by no state at all.”