Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Friday concluded his nationwide consultative meeting with that of the North East geopolitical zone in Bauchi, Bauchi State.
The conclusion of the meetings came on a day that associates and stakeholders of the former Vice President from his own North East zone overwhelmingly rejected the Peoples Democratic Party and rooted for the All Progressives Congress as a preferred political platform for him to continue in politics.
Majority of the speakers at the Zaranda Hotel venue of the meeting, having appraised the political situation in the country, supported Abubakar’s defection to the APC.
And when the matter was put to a vote, as was done in previous meetings, the APC enjoyed 88 per cent support as against 10 per cent for the Peoples Democratic Movement and the PDP trailing in third place with only two per cent.
Abubakar had in his opening remarks informed his associates and stakeholders that the consultation was prompted by the visit of the leadership of the APC and the invitation extended to him.
He expressed appreciation to his associates and stakeholders for standing by him in “victory and in defeat” over the decades.
He added: “You are the foot soldiers who will get the votes.
“You are central in our political process and that is why I have to come and consult with you in helping me to take perhaps the most difficult decision of my political life.”
Abubakar had, following the visit and invitation of the leadership of the APC in December last year, commenced consultations at home and abroad on a possible defection to the opposition party.
But early in the year, he stepped up the tempo of the nationwide consultations, meeting with his associates and stakeholders, beginning with the North West in Kaduna and followed by North Central in Abuja, South East in Enugu, South South in Benin City, South West in Ibadan and ending with the North East in Bauchi on Friday.
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