Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has urged President of the Senate, Sen. Bukola Saraki, to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as he resigned from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Abubakar made the appeal in a statement issued by his media aide, Mr Paul Ibe, on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said that he received the news of Saraki’s resignation from the APC with great joy, saying that Saraki’s ordeal in APC was all too familiar to lovers of democracy in Nigeria and around the world.

“Leaving a party which maliciously prosecuted him and subjected him to the most degrading treatment, notwithstanding his status as the nation’s number three citizen, took courage, and I commend him.

“What the APC did to Saraki is what they have also done to Nigeria as a nation. They have degraded our democracy and our economy.

“Bukola Saraki is a product of the PDP, under whose banner he became a Presidential Adviser, Governor and Senator. The PDP’s ideology and political philosophy is conducive to Sen. Saraki’s political leaning.

“I therefore not only welcome Sen. Saraki’s resignation from the APC, I also urge him to go one step further and join the only party capable of enshrining genuine democracy in Nigeria as well as lasting economic progress.

“I urge Senator Saraki to join our great party, the PDP,’’ he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Saraki on Tuesday announced his exit from the APC, but did not indicate the new party he was moving to.

“I wish to inform Nigerians that after extensive consultations, I have decided to take my leave of the All Progressives Congress (APC),” Saraki said on his Twitter handle. (NAN)