By Temidayo Akinsuyi

LAGOS-Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has expressed his desire to retain former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, as his running mate if he clinches the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Daily Independent has gathered.

Atiku and Obi were both presidential candidate and Vice-Presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2019 general election which they lost to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) which fielded President Muhammadu Buhari as its flagbearer.

However, credible sources in the party said the moves by Atiku is facing stiff resistance by PDP governors who want him to pick one of them from the Southern as his running mate.

According to our sources, that is the reason why some of the governors are picking the presidential forms of the PDP which they plan to use as negotiation for the VP slot.

Even though Peter Obi has already picked the PDP presidential form and has been screened to participate in the primaries, an associate of Atiku on Monday informed our correspondent that the Waziri of Adamawa has said he would like to retain the 2019 team with Peter Obi as Vice-President if he wins the PDP ticket.

When asked why Peter Obi is running, he said it is because the PDP will throw the presidential ticket open as recommended by the zoning committee of the party.

“Peter Obi is running because the party did not zone the ticket to any region; they will certainly throw the ticket open.

Every qualified aspirant will contest and the best will emerge as the candidate of the party. We can’t ask him not to contest since the ticket is not zoned to any particular region. What if he wins? “If Obi is lucky enough to get the majority of the delegates and becomes the presidential candidate, @ atiku and all of us will give him maximum support,” he said.

A former member of the party’s National Working Committee who also confirmed the development said while Atiku prefers Obi, he may pander to the wishes of the governors as they are the major powerbrokers in the party.

“Wike is contesting for the presidency because he believes that if the party zones the position to the South, he would win. But now that the party will throw the ticket open, he has his eyes on the VP slot.”

“Another governor interested in the VP slot is Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel. He is also contesting for presidency but his motive is just to join the race since Wike from Rivers is also there".

"There is this age-long rivalry between Akwa Ibom and Rivers and so they believe if a man from Rivers wants to become president, why can’t a man from Akwa Ibom also do it?” “The primary is yet to be conducted but there is this belief in the party that with President Buhari out of the equation in 2023, only Atiku has a national appeal that can win the presidential election for PDP".

"The real stakeholders know that the likes of Pius Anyim, Aminu Tambuwal, Nyesom Wike are going nowhere. In fact, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi said he is contesting for president but he has secretly obtained a nomination form for the governorship election. Is that a serious presidential candidate? “So right now, they are already working towards the emergence of one of their own as running mate to Atiku".

"They also know that Atiku prefers Obi because they have a close working relationship. In fact, that was why Obi attended Atiku’s declaration in Abuja.”

“The problem of the Igbos is that they really don’t know what they want. If they had shown direction in 2019, they should have voted massively for Atiku and Obi to make a strong statement that they really needed the presidency. But what they did in the 2019 election was to put one leg in APC and the other leg in PDP".

"They deliberately allowed Buhari to get 25 percent of votes in the South- East states which ordinarily APC can never get as PDP is the dominant party in the South East. That is why people are not looking at the South-East as a strong force to reckon with".

“If tomorrow Atiku picks Obi as running mate, you will see some Igbo leaders come to say that they were not consulted before the decision was reached just like it happened in 2019 and they will still go and work against him. At the end of the day, it is the South East zone that will suffer".

“One thing is certain, if Atiku wins tomorrow, the PDP governors will come up with demands that one of them should be picked as VP. If someone like Wike who is the major financial backbone of the party said he wants the VP slot as a condition for supporting the party, do you think they won’t listen to him?,” he asked.

Also speaking on this, a public affairs analyst, Wale Adegoke said the South East needs to work very hard so they don’t lose out in 2023.

“The Igbo’s have to work very hard; if not they will miss out on both; President and VP. Hence, you see South South politicians now emphasizing their Igbo or Igbo-related names; Amaechi, Ifeanyichukwu etc. all in a bid to create a shade of Igboness in them to assuage the agitation in Igbo land. Unfortunately, some Igbos from the South East are even falling for that scam,” he said.

https://independent.ng/pdp-govs-kick-as-atiku-plans-to-retain-peter-obi-as-running-mate/

They already know that the initial giragira by Mr Pandoras China Obi is for his to see bone chop.
They knw he can never win ordinary primary let alone presidency.

Obi is a man with zero integrity who jumps from one party to another like a prostitute.
A man who lost his state to another party..
The one eye man is a king in the land full of blinds men

No serious president who wants to live will prefer an ambitious man like Wike as his vice-president. The same way Buhari rejected Tinubu in 2015 hiding under Muslim-Muslim ticket

nairavsdollars:
No serious president who wants to live will prefer an ambitious man like Wike as his vice-president. The same way Buhari rejected Tinubu in 2015 hiding under Muslim-Muslim ticket

This one is happy that they never see any political value in the entire SE therefore result into second fiddle as usual

Another prospective failure

is Wike an Igbo man?

KingKO22:


This one is happy that they never see any political value in the entire SE therefore result into second fiddle as usual

Another prospective failure

The winning team

Anybody that emerge as PDP candidate is who I will vote. As it stands, voting a stone is far better than voting APC, a party that took most Nigerians to their villages.

My own make putting press the button make everything scatter

Lol... Atiku is indirectly begging SE for their vote.



But SE wants the Presidential slot not VP slot.

Obi is contesting for position of running mate.

No matter how some people try to sell Atiku he won't win, the PDP has already seed it ticket to the South.
Atiku and his Sympathizers should stop day dreaming

The South East is not united

Anaerobi:
Lol... Atiku is indirectly begging SE for their vote.



But SE wants the Presidential slot not VP slot.

If they put their two legs in one basket they complain if they put one and another one they complain what this man is saying now is we don't but our two legs in one basket in 2019 I don't understand him this yeruba people allways write nonsense about Igbo

Trusting yeruba is like trusting this cheter whit this spring Borg

Obi will win PDP ticket. We can't replace a clueless Fulani with another Fulani Man

I don't see any serious contenders from the south in PDP that can match Peter Obi public acceptance, who sabi Emmanuel Udom and Wike outside their respective States ?

Anyway, Atiku/ Obi combo is a winning ticket anytime, any day

nairavsdollars:
The South East is not united

That is what people say, but they are United and have one spirit.

Nonsense and ingredient

nairavsdollars:
The South East is not united

South East is PDP and from all indication, their prefaired candidate is Peter Obi.

The only Advantage North have is population..... Out of the 36 states in Nigeria, North has about 16-18 while other regions shared the remaining states.

Obi Pandora is too big for the “mere commissioner” and “spare tyre” position naw.

Haba.

Pdp ticket is the next president

Power to the people
North 2023

Wike don’t have nothing to offer . .. no VP, NO sGF... if he wan decamp make he decamp

Who dash major financier... all this press noise


He paid salary don’t mean he finance Pdp as a party and h did paid it for just two years

This media should stop attracting hatred to Wike with all this Pdp financier

Can Wike finanacer the biggest party in Africa .. with wishing money? Who dash Wike money

Rivers state money?

Politics don’t work that way in Nigeria .. so, what about people that start the party and stakeholders

This press people don com


How many votes Wike fit get for rivers state if dem conduct election now Btwn him and Ameachi?

Yoruba media and noise ..

They wan get presidency free . Make Wike Dey on ballot ..

If a candidate emerges at the primaries, then the party and stakeholders will decide who becomes vice and names will be compiled and sent to presedential aspirant.


So it's not entirely the presidential candidate that picks his VP. As for wike he is contesting cos his rival amaechi is contesting and cos rivers has money to throw around

Lobatan

What exactly are u ranting about this morning?

Frigga13:
Pdp ticket is the next president

Power to the people
North 2023

Wike don’t have nothing to offer . .. no VP, NO sGF... if he wan decamp make he decamp

Who dash major financier... all this press noise


He paid salary don’t mean he finance Pdp as a party and h did paid it for just two years

This media should stop attracting hatred to Wike with all this Pdp financier

Can Wike finanacer the biggest party in Africa .. with wishing money? Who dash Wike money

Rivers state money?

Politics don’t work that way in Nigeria .. so, what about people that start the party and stakeholders

This press people don com


How many votes Wike fit get for rivers state if dem conduct election now Btwn him and Ameachi?

Yoruba media and noise ..

They wan get presidency free . Make Wike Dey on ballot ..

Southeast did not put one leg in APC and one leg in PDP in 2019.

They should called the culprits by their names…

It were people like Umahi and co, who felt the VP position was their birthright that led the Southeast governors to reject Obi candidacy and surreptitiously worked to give Buhari 25 percent votes in southeast states.

But guess what… Atiku/Obi still won. Which made APC to resort to inflating votes from war-torn Borno and Yobe just to cling to power. But with Electoral Act 2022, that will not be the story again (God willing).

So, no matter what any southern PDP idiot does, Atiku knows that the choice of PDP Obi was, and would still be, his best.

Any other person will alienate the youths from the Atiku ticket and it will end in a disastrous crushing defeat.

Obi will pick Atiku as his running mate

KingKO22:
They already know that the initial giragira by Mr Pandoras China Obi is for his to see bone chop.
They knw he can never win ordinary primary let alone presidency.

Obi is a man with zero integrity who jumps from one party to another like a prostitute.
A man who lost his state to another party..
The one eye man is a king in the land full of blinds men

It's either Peter Obi is your president or vice President come 2023. Now,cry on

Which youth Ipob youth or Nigeria youth.

Penguin2:
Southeast did not put one leg in APC and one leg in PDP in 2019.

They should called the culprits by their names…

It were people like Umahi and co, who felt the VP position was their birthright that led the Southeast governors to reject Obi candidacy and surreptitiously worked to give Buhari 25 percent votes in southeast states.

But guess what… Atiku/Obi still won. Which made APC to resort to inflating votes from war-torn Borno and Yobe just to cling to power. But with Electoral Act 2022, that will not be the story again (God willing).

So, no matter what any southern PDP idiot does, Atiku knows that the choice of PDP Obi was, and would still be, his best.

Any other person will alienate the youths from the Atiku ticket and it will end in a disastrous crushing defeat.

Maxymilliano:
I don't see any serious contenders from the south in PDP that can match Peter Obi public acceptance, who sabi Emmanuel Udom and Wike outside their respective States ?

Anyway, Atiku/ Obi combo is a winning ticket anytime, any day

My fear is that Peter obi doesn’t have that appeal up north. It’s the truth

Golan007:
Obi is contesting for position of running mate.

Anyone he's contesting for is good for us. No cry anymore

Penguin2:
Southeast did not put one leg in APC and one leg in PDP in 2019.

They should called the culprits by their names…

It were people like Umahi and co, who felt the VP position was their birthright that led the Southeast governors to reject Obi candidacy and surreptitiously worked to give Buhari 25 percent votes in southeast states.

But guess what… Atiku/Obi still won. Which made APC to resort to inflating votes from war-torn Borno and Yobe just to cling to power. But with Electoral Act 2022, that will not be the story again (God willing).

So, no matter what any southern PDP idiot does, Atiku knows that the choice of PDP Obi was, and would still be, his best.

Any other person will alienate the youths from the Atiku ticket and it will end in a disastrous crushing defeat.

Why then hoping for APC to give it’s ticket to an SE man?

Invictuse:
Which youth Ipob youth or Nigeria youth.

Afonga youth of skullars

BlazinGlory40:


Why then hoping for APC to give it’s ticket to an SE man?

You just read that southeast governors allowed APC get 25 percent of votes cast in Southeast in 2019.

Add that to the fact that Igbo men, Onu and Okorocha, were founding members of the APC.

Now, tell me why southeast does not deserve the APC ticket.