Atiku’s son’s support group rejects APC defection, expels him over Tinubu endorsement

The Atiku Haske Organisation has disowned Abba Atiku Abubakar, son of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, following his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC), rejecting his directive that members of the group should join the ruling party.

The organisation also announced Abba’s expulsion, insisting that he has no authority to determine its political direction and accusing him of never contributing financially to its activities.

Abba had, on Thursday, publicly announced his defection to the APC and urged coordinators and members of his political structure to follow suit and mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. He also called for the group to be renamed the Haske Bola Tinubu Organisation.

However, in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, the initiator and convener of the Atiku Haske Organisation, Mai Nagge Bakari, dismissed Abba’s directive as illegitimate and binding on no one.

According to Bakari, Abba was neither the founder nor a principal stakeholder in the organisation and was merely invited to associate with it.

“We founded the Atiku Haske Organisation and merely invited Abba to join the group. He has neither contributed a naira to the activities of the organisation nor does he possess its certificate of registration,” Bakari said.

“We are therefore under no obligation to obey any directive issued by him. On the contrary, he is subject to our rules and has failed to meet our expectations. He has accordingly been expelled from the organisation.”

Bakari said the group had collectively resolved to move from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and had no plans to defect to the APC or any other political party.

He described Abba’s decision to defect to the APC and issue directives in the group’s name as a direct violation of its resolutions, values and internal agreements.

“The Atiku Haske Organisation is not a party to, nor interested in, defecting to any political party other than the African Democratic Congress,” he said.

“We were formerly in the PDP and resolved, as a group, to move to the ADC. What Abba has done is contrary to our collective decision, and his action is hereby rejected in its entirety.”

Bakari declared Abba’s directive “null, void and of no effect,” warning him to stop presenting himself as a leader or representative of the organisation.

“We challenge Abba to form his own political organisation if he has the capacity to do so and urge him to desist from identifying himself with our group,” he added.

Abba announced his defection to the APC on Thursday at the National Assembly complex in Abuja, where he was received by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin, alongside other APC leaders from the North-East.

He pledged his support for President Tinubu’s second-term bid, citing the leadership style of Senator Barau and the policies of the Tinubu administration as reasons for his defection.

Following the announcement, Abba also directed members of what he described as his political structure, the Haske Atiku Organisation founded in 2022, to defect to the APC, adding that the group had been renamed the Haske Bola Tinubu Organisation to align with President Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign.

The development highlights growing internal tensions among political support groups linked to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, as alignments and defections intensify ahead of the 2027 general elections.