The governor of Kaduna State, Mr. Nasir el-Rufai has said that Aiku Abubakar’s exit from the All Progressives Congress (APC) is good for the party.
Atiku had, in a letter made available to the media today called it quits from the party he joined in 2014, alleging that APC had failed the electorate and treated its chieftains with disdain.
But speaking in an interview in Abuja, El-Rufai said the party was already aware that he (Atiku) would leave the party in December.
“He has left in November; the earlier he leaves for where he belongs, the better. He has changed political parties a few times. He is always looking for opportunity to contest. He is a serial contestant, defector and presidential aspirant; we wish him luck,” said the governor.
El Rufai who stated that no governor would leave the party with Atiku also said if given the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the former vice-president “is not a threat to President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 presidential election.”
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) was yet to receive Atiku’s resignation letter.
The party’s national publicity secretary, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, who reacted to Atiku’s exit, said in an interview that the APC leadership had not seen any formal notification on the purported resignation, adding, however, that based on what “we have seen in the social media, we can say that it is surprising.”
“For us, politics is all about interest; so, if the former Vice President feels that his interest is better served elsewhere, we don’t have any issues with that.
“We can always wish him good luck. For us, the task of building a political party is not a day’s job; it is a marathon.
“And, it takes many years and we will continue to improve our system to get the kind of party we want to really build,” said Abdullahi.
He stressed that it took many years to build a strong political party, adding that parties are made up of different persons, some happy and some sad.
Abdullahi added that everybody would have to take decisions at some point in time.
He, however, said the APC was not bothered about Atiku’s rumoured exit from the party until it “sees the number of people that would move with him.”
He maintained that those remaining in the party would continue to work for it, build it and make it stronger in the interest of all.
