•Cites irreconcilable differences, deviation from party’s founding principles

•Describes his decision as heartbreaking 

•We won’t miss him, Makinde reacts

•Keyamo slams ex-president for leaving his party at a time Nigerians are mourning Buhari 

•Group: Anyanwu’s recall finished PDP

•ADC: suffering Nigerians don’t need APC any longer

Chuks Okocha, Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja and Fidelis David in Akure

In readiness for the 2027 elections, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has officially resigned from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ending his decades-long association with the former ruling party he helped to build.

Citing irreconcilable differences and deviation from the party’s founding principles on the party of the PDP leadership, Atiku, a founding member of a new opposition coalition, has now fully aligned with their new found party, African Democratic Congress (ADC).

In a letter dated July 14, 2025, addressed to Chairman of PDP in his Jada 1 Ward, Jada Local Government Area, Adamawa State, Atiku said he was quitting the party with immediate effect.

He expressed “profound gratitude” for the opportunities PDP gave him over the years, especially his two-term tenure as Vice President and two presidential runs on the party’s platform.

Atiku said, “Serving two full terms as Vice President of Nigeria and being a presidential candidate twice has been one of the most significant chapters of my life.

“As a founding father of this esteemed party, it is, indeed, heart-breaking for me to make this decision.”

He, however, said he could no longer continue as a member of PDP due to the current direction of the party.

“I find it necessary to part ways due to the current trajectory the party has taken, which I believe diverges from the foundational principles we stood for,” he stated.

He concluded by wishing the party and its leadership well, saying, “Thank you once again for the opportunities and support.”

Atiku had left PDP and re-joined it twice. He initially joined PDP in 1998, left in 2006, re-joined in 2007, left again in 2014, and finally re-joined in 2017.

In 2006, he left to contest and became the presidential candidate of the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2007 general election. He was defeated by President Umaru Yar’Adua.

Atiku returned to PDP to contest the 2011 presidential election. He was defeated, again, by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Between 2014 and 2017, Atiku left PDP again, joining All Progressives Congress (APC), but Muhammadu Buhari defeated him in the APC presidential primaries.

Atiku returned to PDP in 2017 and became the presidential candidate in the 2019 general election.

In the PDP presidential primary election in 2022, Atiku contested and won the party’s ticket, but lost the main election to the incumbent President Bola Tinubu.

Ahead of the 2027 general election, he has defected and aligned with ADC.

Makinde: We Won’t Miss Atiku in PDP

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, described the exit of Atiku as good riddance to bad rubbish. Makinde stated this at the end of a colloquium to mark the 10th anniversary of the reign of Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade, the Deji of Akure, which was held at the Federal University of Technology, Akure.

He highlighted the strategic role traditional institutions played in governance, conflict resolution, and community development.

Makinde said it was better for anybody holding PDP down to quit.

He stated, “Politics is a game of interest. I don’t think that his exit will make any dent on PDP as a party. PDP is an institution. We have freedom of entrance and exit. Anyone who holds PDP down, it is better for such an individual to quit.”

The governor dismissed the idea of ADC being an alternative to PDP, saying, “I don’t see ADC as a threat to PDP. The goal is about the same. If you are not happy about the tempo and pace of governance, you are free to associate and see what can be done.

“But one thing we must all realise is that players will come and go, governors will come and go, presidents will come and go, but our state and country will remain.”

Keyamo Slams Atiku for Poor Timing

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, berated Atiku for making public his letter of resignation from PDP at a time the nation was mourning President Muhammadu Buhari, who died on Sunday.

Keyamo also faulted Atiku for using the federal government’s Coat of Arms in his private capacity, 19 years after leaving office as vice president.

He stated, “Excellency, @atiku, whilst I acknowledge that it is within your constitutional right to change political parties at any time you may wish, however, releasing your letter of resignation from the PDP during this week of the mourning of our immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari, is clearly an attempt to draw the spotlight away from such a solemn occasion and direct it on yourself.

“In fact (as the image below shows) you prepared, typed, signed and delivered that letter the morning after the passing away of the former president was announced.”

Keyamo said, “With the greatest respect to you, this clearly demonstrates that your obsession with your perennial presidential ambition knows no sympathy or empathy.

“And since we are on the issue of your letter, it is both morally and legally wrong to continue to use the Coat of Arms of the federal government in your private or political communications when you stopped being a functionary of the federal government more than 18 years ago.

“Section 6 of the Flag and Coat of Arms Act, Cap. F30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 makes this an offence. Morally, it is also reprehensible to use a symbol suggesting that you are acting on behalf of the authority which that symbol represents.

“It borders on impersonation. Imagine a situation where all former government functionaries continue to use the Coat of Arms of Nigeria in their personal, political or private communications, there would certainly be confusion everywhere.”

Group: Anyanwu’s Recall Finished PDP

National Alliance for Democratic Governance (NADG) said the resignation of Atiku and other PDP bigwigs from the party had vindicated its earlier prediction that Senator Samuel Anyanwu’s reinstatement as the party’s National Secretary, against the position of the South East Caucus of PDP, had finally destroyed the party.

Reacting to Atiku’s resignation, NADG insisted that the 100th PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting sentenced an ailing party to a preventable death by handing the party’s structures to those who were allegedly conniving with external forces to undermine it, even openly.

The group, in a statement in Abuja by its President and National Coordinator, Comrade James Ezema, said, “Nemesis has finally caught up with the PDP for the mistreatment meted to the South East, a region that sacrificed all for the party and remained fiercely loyal for the last 27 years.

“As earlier stated, denying the South East the 2023 presidential ticket, which the likes of Atiku and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, were accomplices, was clear perversion of justice.

“But throwing an entire region under the bus by reinstating Anyanwu against party convention and practice, was not just a total humiliation and injustice taken too far against the South East, but an orchestrated and choreographed move to finally annihilate the party.

“The bottom-line is that as predicted, the Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagun, has secured his place as the chief undertaker in the funeral of the party, which was once the largest political party in Africa.”

ADC: Suffering Nigerians Don’t Need APC Any Longer

ADC said suffering Nigerians were more than ever before convinced that they did not need the APC-led government beyond 2027 in order to regain their basic needs in life.

ADC said its desire was to reduce the cost of living in Nigeria, if voted into office in 2027. It emphasised that the government that could be callous in its first term in office would do worse things if given another chance.

Interim National Publicity Secretary of ADC, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, who stated that, assured that the main target of the party was to ensure that the prices of petroleum products in the country were drastically reduced.

ADC urged Nigerians, particularly the electorate, to rally round it to win the 2027 general election and kick out the President Bola Tinubu-led APC government that had no feelings for the people.

Abdullahi stated, “The most important thing is that our job is half done with the current hunger in the land. The major task we have is to convince Nigerians that we are the alternative.

“They can see the difference in the lifestyle of the people in government that have no iota of human feelings, except for themselves and members of their families. The gap between those in government and the people have become so widened.

“What is clear is that Nigerians don’t want APC anymore. Any Nigerian, who is suffering today, knows that they don’t want APC anymore. We shall and must convince Nigerians that we represent the alternative.

“So a hungry person knows he doesn’t want to continue to be hungry. A person who can’t afford to pay hospital bills knows that he doesn’t want to continue. So, we don’t have any problems convincing Nigerians that have suffered enough like never before and are still suffering.

“Certainly, Nigerians cannot continue this way. The people need to be rescued and the ADC is on a mission to rescue Nigerians from the clutches of so-called leaders without human feelings.

“It is really painful to see Nigerians in agony as they cannot pay their hospital bills, feed as expected, can’t pay their children school fees and cannot afford cost of transportation and worst of it, increased and uncontrolled insecurity in the land is quite troubling.”