By Obinna Uballa
The Atiku Haske Organisation has openly rebelled against Abba Atiku Abubakar, son of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, rejecting his directive that members of the group should defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The group also announced Abba’s expulsion, insisting that he lacks the authority to determine its political direction and claiming he never made any financial contribution to its activities.
Abba had, on Thursday, announced his defection to the APC and subsequently directed coordinators and members of his political structure to join the ruling party 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 strongly worded statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, the initiator and convener of the Atiku Haske Organisation, Mai Nagge Bakari, disowned Abba’s directive, stressing that he was neither the founder nor a principal stakeholder in the group.
Bakari said Abba was merely invited to associate with the organisation and had no legal or moral authority to issue instructions on its behalf.
“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 adhere to any directive issued by him. On the contrary, he is subject to our rules and regulations and has fallen far short of our expectations. He has accordingly been dismissed as a member.”
The group further stated that it had collectively resolved to move from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and had no intention of defecting to the APC or any other political party.
According to Bakari, Abba’s decision to defect to the APC and issue directives to members amounted to a clear violation of the organisation’s resolutions, values and principles.
“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, after wide consultations, resolved en masse to move to the ADC. What Abba has done is contrary to our collective decision, and he is hereby expelled from the organisation.”
Bakari declared Abba’s directive null and void, describing it as “dead on arrival,” and warned him to stop parading himself as a member or leader of the group.
“We remain resolute in our conviction that His Excellency Atiku Abubakar remains the best political figure to advance our objectives,” he added.
“We challenge Abba to form his own political group if he has the capacity to do so and urge him to desist forthwith from identifying himself with our organisation.”
Abba had 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 what he described as the leadership style of Senator Barau and the policies of the Tinubu administration.
Following the defection, Abba also directed members of what he described as his political structure – the Haske Atiku Organisation, founded in 2022 – to join the APC, adding that the group had been renamed the Haske Bola Tinubu Organisation in alignment with the President’s 2027 re-election campaign.
