2023: Atiku Reportedly Picks Governor Nyesom Wike As Running Mate
- There are indications that an Atiku-Wike joint ticket under the PDP in the 2023 general elections is in the offing
- The choice of Wike as the vice-presidential aspirant of Atiku is already causing ripples within the ranks of the party
- Many PDP chieftains were said to have been rooting for a repeat of the Atiku-Peter Obi’s presidential ticket in 2023
FCT, Abuja - A report by Business Day newspaper indicates that former vice president and presidential aspirant on the platform of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, have picked Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state as his running mate in place of Peter Obi.
Obi, a former Anambra state governor, an economist was Atiku’s running mate in the 2019 general election.
Source: Twitter
Sources quoted in the report say Atiku’s decision to dump Obi was because he allegedly made little financial contributions to the 2019 campaign purse as well as inability to win his state Anambra and the southeast for the party in the presidential election.
A source in the Atiku campaign team quoted in the report said:
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“Prior to the 2019 election, Governor Peter Obi didn’t have a strong political structure outside the southeast. People just loved him because of his vast knowledge of the economy, winning an election goes beyond all that.
“For instance, since he left office and joined PDP he has not been able to have his nominees win the governorship election in the state. Although he is brilliant and can speak good grammar, interprets the economy very well, winning an election is much more than that. How much did he bring to the table?
“To successfully run an election in this country you need money, connection, strong and vast political structure, etc, and these you find in abundance in Nyesom Wike. He is a good material any day and that’s not the kind of man you leave behind, especially if you want to win election in Nigeria.”
Some other sources close to the party hierarchy said the matter formed part of the discussions at the recent meeting of the PDP governors’ forum hosted by Wike in Port Harcourt.
It was gathered that the governor had used the opportunity to seek the support of his colleagues for the Atiku-Wike 2023 ticket; an issue that many of those in attendance were said to have kicked against.
Weeks before the meeting, Wike had visited some of the PDP governors to personally invite them to the meeting.
2023: Ohanaeze Ndigbo insists on Igbo presidency
Meanwhile, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has again, insisted that power must shift to the southeast in the 2023 presidential election.
The president-general of the group, Prof. George Obiozor, on Thursday, January 27 warned that any attempt to jettison the north/south political rotational arrangement would throw Nigeria into a political crisis.
He urged the ruling All Progressive Congress, the PDP, and other political parties to respect the political rotation.
PDP warned against fielding northern presidential candidate in 2023
Similarly, the PDP has been warned against fielding a presidential candidate by a political advocacy group, Reset Nigeria.
The group made the call in a statement issued on Monday, January 14, and sent to Legit.ng.
The group said the PDP risks mass exodus of members and extinction if it fails to field a presidential candidate from southern Nigeria in line with the idea of a rotational presidency between the north and the south.
Source: Legit.ng
