Abba Atiku Abubakar, the son of former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to Abba Atiku, the move is to mobilise support for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu next year.
He was received into the ruling party on Thursday in Abuja by Barau Jibrin, Deputy Senate President, and Mustafa Salihu, National Vice-Chairman of the APC in the north-east.
He also announced the renaming of his political group, originally established in 2022 as the Atiku Haske Organisation, to the Haske Bola Tinubu Organisation.
Abubakar directed all coordinators and members of his political structure to immediately join the APC and mobilise support for Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda.
“My name is Abubakar Atiku Abubakar, but everyone calls me Abba; I am here today to formally announce my exit from my former party, where we worked in 2023, and my decision to join the APC,” he said.
“Today, I’m here to formally announce my exit from my former party to the APC following the outstanding leadership style and quality of His Excellency, the deputy president of the senate, Senator Barau Jibrin.
“With this development, I will work with Senator Barau to actualise the second-term bid of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu come 2027.
“To this effect, I’m directing all coordinators of my association to join the APC and work for President Tinubu.”
Welcoming him into the party, the national vice-chairman of the APC in the north-east, described the defection as symbolic and far-reaching.
“Today is one of my happiest days; we are looking beyond old social and political cleavages,” he said.
“This young man has seen the policies and programmes of the Tinubu administration and decided to align with them.”
Salihu said the APC is driven by ideology and policy direction rather than personal ambition, assuring Abubakar of equal rights and opportunities within the party.
In his remarks, Barau congratulated Abubakar for what he described as a bold and principled decision.
“You have made a decision based on ideology; you didn’t come here because of your father,” the deputy senate president said.
“You came because you believe in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his ideology and the renewed hope agenda.”
Barau said Abubakar, who had been following political developments from the United States, was impressed by the Tinubu administration’s reforms and outreach.
“He is young, focused, and determined to contribute to shaping the future of our country; this is the kind of youth Nigeria needs,” Barau said.
The APC has recorded a surge in defections from opposition parties in recent times.
As part of efforts to properly document its members nationwide, the party recently commenced an electronic registration exercise.
On Monday, Ajibola Basiru, national secretary of the APC, said the ruling party’s digitally verified membership will rise to between eight and nine million within two weeks of the start of the revalidation exercise.
