The measure of grief and national solemnity is restraint. And in moments of collective mourning, particularly over the passing of a national icon, such restraint becomes not only a virtue but a duty. It is therefore deeply shocking, insensitive, and unbecoming that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar chose Monday, July 14, 2025, barely 24 hours after the death of President Muhammadu Buhari to submit his resignation from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), with the media going agog with the story on Wednesday July 16 just a day after the late President’s burial.
At a time when Nigerians, especially the northern political bloc to which both Buhari and Atiku belong, are still processing the death of a former Head of State, a military general, and two-time democratic leader, Atiku’s political maneuvering is not just ill-advised, it is an affront to national decency.
As a Muslim, Atiku surely knows that “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un” is not just a prayer for the dead; it is a call to humble submission before God and respect for the finality of life. And as an African elder, one who once enjoyed the benefits of political association with Buhari’s base in the North, cultural decorum demanded that he pause, even if briefly, before pursuing any personal or political ambition.
But instead, what we have witnessed is a man who, rather than honour the dead, chose to capitalize on the moment, launching what now appears to be a strategic detachment from a party he helped fracture, while the nation remains cloaked in mourning. It is a slap in the face to Nigerians still grieving, and a confirmation that politics, not patriotism; is Atiku’s highest calling.
This singular act of resignation, made public today, lays bare the real motive behind Atiku’s sudden return to Nigeria. Despite claims that he arrived for Buhari’s Janazah in Daura, the evidence now suggests that his visit was never about national solidarity. It was a carefully-timed re-entry meant to coincide with a calculated political move — a betrayal wrapped in false piety.
One must ask: What does it profit a man to trample over the fresh grave of a northern statesman just to launch his next political experiment? Where is the decorum? Where is the empathy? Where is the sense of timing that leadership — true leadership — demands?
More than ever before, this moment exposes the chasm between statesmanship and opportunism. A true statesman would have stood still, allowed the nation to breathe, mourned with his people, and respected a full seven-day period of national mourning, as is both religiously and culturally appropriate.
Instead, Atiku Abubakar has chosen ambition over empathy, and political calculation over public conscience. It is an indictment of the kind of politics that has held Nigeria hostage for too long — selfish, short-sighted, and emotionally tone-deaf.
The Nigerian people are watching. History is recording. And in due course, the difference between those who grieved with sincerity and those who schemed in the shadows will be plain for all to see.
Yusuf Galadima writes from Kano.
yusufg@gmail.com
