The defection of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has fuelled the speculations that he will dare critics who have mocked him and labelled him serial contestant, and vie for the presidential seat in the 2027 elections.

However, his defection from the PDP is not new as Atiku had left the party and re-joined it several times in his over decade efforts to realise his presidential ambition. 

He left PDP in 2006, re-joined in 2007, left again in 2014, and finally came back in 2017.

In 2006, he left to contest and became the presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2007 general election but was defeated by President Umaru Yar’Adua.

Atiku returned to PDP to contest the 2011 presidential election, and was defeated by President Goodluck Jonathan.

He left again around 2014 to the All Progressives Congress (APC), where he contested the presidential ticket of the party but was defeated by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

He returned to the PDP in 2017 and emerged the party’s presidential candidate in the 2019 general election but Buhari defeated him.

Atiku also contested and won PDP’s presidential ticket in 2022, but lost the 2023 presidential election to the incumbent President Bola Tinubu.

In all, he has contested and lost the presidential ticket of political parties twice and also lost the presidential election three times, becoming a serial contestant, according to his critics.

Atiku has also established a reputation for challenging the second term ambitions of every incumbent president, including those belonging to his political party.

His joining the ADC is an indication that he will vie for the presidential ticket of the party, despite attacks by critics who advised him to retire and give way to younger generations.

The question is: Can Atiku realise his age-long ambition in 2027, given the mood of the nation, which favours the South completing eight years before power rotates to the North?

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde said his exit from the PDP is a good riddance to bad rubbish, and also dismissed the idea of ADC being an alternative to PDP.

Whatever may be the case, Atiku’s defection to the ADC is a strong indication that he has not given up on his ambition to occupy the number one seat in the country, an ambition that almost made him to contest against his boss, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in the 2003 presidential election