Atiku's Resignation From PDP: Shehu Reels Out Implications of Ex-VP's Exit Ahead of 2027 Election

• Public commentator Mahdi Shehu reacted to the resignation of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the PDP
• Atiku blamed his exit from the former ruling party on the deviation from its founding principles
• In reaction, Shehu, a Kaduna-based 'activist', highlighted 'great lessons for people to learn from'

Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering elections, politics, and governance in Nigeria.

FCT, Abuja - Controversial critic Mahdi Shehu on Wednesday, July 16, asserted that "there is a great lesson for people to learn" from the resignation of Atiku Abubakar from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Legit.ng had reported how Atiku, a former Nigerian vice-president, resigned his membership of the PDP ahead of the 2027 election.

In a letter dated Monday. July 14, 2025, and addressed to the chairman of the PDP, Jada 1 Ward, Jada local government area (LGA) of Adamawa state, Alhaji Atiku stated that his resignation is due to irreconcilable differences that have emerged within the former ruling party.

The 78-year-old noted that he found it necessary to part ways due to the current trajectory the party has taken, which, according to him, diverges from the foundational principles it stood for.

Atiku, who served as Nigeria’s vice president between 1999 and 2007, expressed gratitude to the PDP for the platform it provided him to serve and twice contest the presidency—in 2019 and 2023.

He was also a presidential aspirant on the platform of the party in 2007 before decamping to the Action Congress (AC), a forerunner of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

His exit marks another major turning point in his long and eventful political career, which has seen him criss-cross party lines in pursuit of electoral goals.

Atiku has sought Nigeria’s top job six times since 1993 under different political banners, including the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the PDP, the AC, and the APC.

The perennial presidential contender tendered his resignation in the build-up to the 2027 general election as he teams up with a coalition platform, the Alliance Democratic Congress (ADC).

Reacting to Atiku's exit from the PDP, Shehu said, 'by resigning to join the league of his several sworn foes, detractors and enemies, means Atiku is yet to learn political survival instincts.'

According to him, "I would rather remain within than just fizzle away to an uncertain destination."

Among other alleged implications, Shehu said by abandoning the PDP 'because of rats (sic) infestation', Atiku has "shown that he is not a good fighter willing to fight to finish."

Mahdi Shehu's post, shared on his verified X (formerly Twitter) handle, can be read in full below:

1. There is a great lesson for people to learn from:

Whoever contributed in building a house over decades, furnished it, decorated it, repainted it severally, and periodically, felt very much at home, fought to keep the said house from collapse, driving pride from being part of that house, etc, but suddenly abandoned, deserted and run away of the house because of "RATS INFESTATIONS.

By resigning from PDP, Atiku would have given Olusegun Obasanjo a happy moment to celebrate the triumph of his evil plan and mechanisation against both PDP and Atiku in particular

By abandoning PDP because of 'RATS INFESTATION', Atiku has shown that he is not a good fighter willing to fight to finish, willing to stop midway, willingly, to deploy all means available to prove a point.

By resigning from PDP, Atiku has sent shivers and shocks to other PDP members who were hitherto seeing him as a pillar to lean on.

By resigning to join the league of his several sworn foes, detractors, and enemies, means Atiku is yet to learn the political survival instincts that prohibit one from" joining the well-known enemies club" even where one will be seen as a leader, because the same enemies will regroup and inflict deeper injury.

I would rather remain within than just fizzle away to an uncertain destination.

'HE WHO FIGHTS AND RUNS AWAY. MAYBLIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY, BUT HE WHO IS IN BATTLE SLAIN, MAY NEVER RISE TO FIGHT AGAIN'."

Tinubu knocks Atiku, others

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that President Bola Tinubu told Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state not to be swayed by 'the noise of coalition groups'.

According to Tinubu, opposition figures working together to unseat him are "political internally-displaced persons (IDPs).”

Source: Legit.ng