Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri has officially defected from the PDP to the APC, but Adamu Atiku, son of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, refused to move with him.
Fintiri announced his defection on Friday during a statewide broadcast, crossing over with 22 out of 24 commissioners. However, Adamu Atiku, Commissioner for Works and Energy Development, and Maksha Atiku, Commissioner for Livestock, were notably absent from the Government House event.
Checks by Saturday PUNCH showed their names missing from the handwritten list of defecting commissioners. A senior cabinet source said Adamu declined because of his father’s political position, noting that another Atiku son, Abba Atiku, joined the APC last month. “So, Adamu cannot now also join the APC, abandoning their father in the African Democratic Congress,” the source said.
The source added that Maksha also stayed back out of loyalty, stressing that “he has loyalty to his political leader and decided to stay back.”
Reacting, the PDP National Working Committee led by Tanimu Turaki slammed Fintiri’s exit, branding it “an exhibition of unrestrained cowardice, not the conduct of a principled politician.” In a statement by spokesman Ini Ememobong, the party warned that “history and posterity are the ultimate and unbiased judges of human actions.”
The PDP urged its members in Adamawa to remain calm, calling the defection “a sad development” that threatens multi-party democracy.
