Days after Spear News reported on a potential defection of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), credible sources have confirmed that both Atiku and the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, are now in active discussions with the SDP leadership.
Spear News had earlier revealed that Atiku, who contested the 2023 election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was exploring alternative options due to the ongoing leadership crisis within the PDP, pending a Supreme Court decision.
Insiders disclose that Atiku enlisted former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, to initiate talks with the SDP while he monitors developments in the PDP.
This move follows the Supreme Court’s recent affirmation of Senator Samuel Anyanwu, a close ally of FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, as the PDP’s legitimate National Secretary, a ruling that significantly weakened Atiku’s position in the party.
Former PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, had earlier warned in an interview on Arise TV that a Supreme Court ruling in favour of Anyanwu would effectively hand control of the PDP to Wike’s faction, potentially triggering an exodus of key members.
Adewole Adebayo, the SDP’s 2023 presidential candidate, confirmed in a Channels Television interview on Sunday, April 6, 2025, that both Atiku and Obi are in talks to join the SDP ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Adebayo said: “People are joining my party, and we are welcoming them. You can see how active I am in welcoming them. The only little issue we have with some of them is to change the culture where if you have not been in an environment where rules are taken seriously.
“Some of them are doing some Boy Scouts, black market operations, we are dealing with that. But we welcome them into the party. All these people you have mentioned, El-Rufai, Atiku Abubakar, and former Governor Peter Obi, are coming. A lot of people are coming, and we will welcome them.”
When he was asked to clarify if Obi is joining the SDP, Adebayo added: “Supposedly, until somebody joins, we don’t know. But people have told me, and the Financial Secretary has also informed me, that they are talking. So we will welcome everybody.
“Surely, when we come in, and we don’t become a tower of Babel; if we come in, follow the rules and allow one person to emerge transparently, clearly, without cheating, without criminality the way we did our convention in 2022, people applauded us transparently, no court case, no crisis, no allegations.”
Adebayo further expressed optimism that the SDP will defeat the ruling APC in the 2027 election, saying: “If they can stick to our culture and follow the way we do in the SDP and produce a good alternative to Nigerians, we are going to manifestly defeat the APC and retire President Tinubu to Lagos or wherever he chooses in Nigeria.”
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