Yes, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has resigned from the All Progressives Congress (APC). I consider his action a deus ex machina.
The caterwauling and refrain that Atiku is a political philanderer are hollow when put in the context of an amensal relationship. The former vice president had stayed long enough in a party he helped to nurture with corporeal resources and commitment, but sadly, there was no reciprocity of trust, goodwill and loyalty on the part of the APC.
It is like in a marriage. The parties to it must maintain an intercourse of trust, love and loyalty. When these essential ingredients evaporate the union will atrophy. The marriage between Atiku and the APC was an arranged one – the seed of love and loyalty seldom germinates from an “unnatural” process.
As it is said in our lingo, the APC used and dumped Atiku. This is why I see his departure from the party as an escape from political abuse.
Before we start analysing inanities like – Atiku left the PDP for the APC, now he is going back to the PDP – let us cogitate on the primary reason he left.
The former vice-president gave this reason: “While other parties have purged themselves of the arbitrariness and unconstitutionality that led to fractionalisation, the All Progressives Congress has adopted those same practices and even gone beyond them to institute a regime of a draconian clampdown on all forms of democracy within the party and the government it produced.”
Politics is all about interest. It is pliable and malleable. Again, the lowest common factor of the game is interest. So, why should Atiku remain in a party that has given him the cold shoulder? Politics is also laissez-faire. There is free entry and free exit!
In addition, the APC government went beyond the remit of brotherly wrangling when it clamped down on businesses linked to Atiku. Though the government tried to justify its action, the political undertones were loud enough.
Atiku’s decision takes great courage, and this should be respected. It is clear that there is no political nirvana anywhere.
