By Samuel Udoh
A large number of us in the PDP, had seen the July 12, ruling of the Supreme Court, authenticating the Makarfi led caretaker committee, as a good omen and a significant decision that will not only reunite the PDP, but will also strengthen Democracy in Nigeria.
To buttress this fact, is the recent heartwarming news of the move by the PDP to reconcile ex President Obasanjo and ex Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the bring them and others back to the party.
Considering the events that warranted Alhaji Atiku Abubakar leaving the PDP, I am compelled to believe that his leaving was justified also is his return.
At the wake of Nigeria's return to democracy, the late Shehu Yar'Adua's political structure, the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), had met on August 19, 1998, and together with few other Nigerians who fought for the return of Democracy, formed the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, contested and won the January 9, 1999 gubernatorial election and became Adamawa state governor-elect, but was invited by Olusegun Obasanjo to be his Vice, a decision, many believe, was necessitated by the fact that Atiku Abubakar held the structure of the PDM and had been the one who inherited the ideologies and political structure of the late Nationalist, Late Shehu Yar'Adua.
As Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, headed the economic reform team which formulated initiatives that saw the auctioning of Mobile phones licences to private companies, raised the capital base of banks to #25 Billion, negotiated the deal that saw Nigeria's $18 billion external debt being cancelled, setting up the debt management office and increasing Nigeria's GDP to $500 billion.
Though the feud between Obasanjo and Atiku led to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar being stripped of his constitutional obligations at a point in their tenure, Nigerians still benefit daily from the intellectual contributions of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
On September 28, 2006, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was suspended from the PDP on gratuitous reasons, when for real, he was suspended for daring to oppose the third term bid of Ex President Obasanjo. Atiku challenged it in court and won.
Having lost hope in the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar left the PDP and on the 20th of December, 2006, he became the Presidential election candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
On February 9, 2007, the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Atiku Abubakar as ineligible to run for the 21st April, 2007 Election on another Baseless reason. Again, Atiku went to court and won.
After losing the Presidential election in 2007, Atiku returned to the PDP in 2009. Aggrieved by the conduct of the 31st August, 2013 PDP convention, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar alongside Seven governors founded the new PDP and on February 2, 2014, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, joined the APC.
The PDP remains the only ideology based political party in Nigeria, though at some points, personal interest had manifested.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar remains one Nigerian who believes deeply in democracy and Democratic process and will always make sacrifices that will lead to the growth of our Nation.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is also far too intelligent for the APC. According to news reports, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar had in the early days of Buhari's administration, presented to President Buhari, an economic blueprint. One that could help Nigeria absolve the shock of decline in oil price, create a competitive market and attract big foreign investment players. The blueprint was not only ignored, but an archaic and an ambiguous foreign policy was introduced, and we ended up having our worst recession. When Alhaji Atiku Abubakar started talking of the need for restructuring, he was abused and called so many unprintable names. Today, some of them are key figures in the restructuring committee of the APC.
For a better Nigeria, and for posterity sake, I join many other PDP faithfuls to ask His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to return to the PDP.
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