Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, but one of his commissioners, Adamu Atiku, son of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, refused to follow him to the new party.
Fintiri announced his defection on Friday in a statewide broadcast from the Government House, confirming that 22 of the 24 commissioners in his cabinet joined him in moving to the APC.
However, Adamu Atiku, the Commissioner for Works and Energy Development, and Maksha Atiku, the Commissioner for Livestock, were absent during the announcement.
Our correspondents sighted the handwritten list of commissioners who defected with the governor, but the names and signatures of Adamu and Maksha were not on it.
A serving commissioner, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Adamu declined to defect because of his father’s political position.
“If you recall, one of Atiku’s sons, Abba, joined the APC last month. So, Adamu cannot now also join the APC, abandoning their father in the African Democratic Congress.
“It will raise questions about the political capacity of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar. We sympathise with him over the political problem he is facing because of his father.
“Maksha is also a strong supporter of the former Vice President, so I believe he has loyalty to his political leader and decided to stay back,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the PDP National Working Committee, led by Tanimu Turaki, condemned Fintiri’s defection, describing it as cowardly and harmful to multi-party democracy.
In a statement issued on Friday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, the PDP said Fintiri’s decision betrayed the platform that supported his political career through several election cycles.
“We are aware of the official announcement of the long-speculated defection of His Excellency, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, from our party to the All Progressives Congress today via a broadcast in Adamawa State,” the statement read.
“While we acknowledge that this decision is within Fintiri’s legal rights, it clearly violates political principles and morality and poses a challenge to multi-party democracy and democratic consolidation.
“For someone to abandon a platform that provided political cover across several election cycles at the first sign of discomfort is an exhibition of unrestrained cowardice, not the conduct of a principled politician.
“As we bid Governor Fintiri farewell, we remind him that history and posterity are the ultimate and unbiased judges of human actions and are actively recording the deeds and omissions of individuals.”
The party urged its members in Adamawa to remain calm and accept what it described as a sad development.
