Atiku Speaks On Picking Obi As Running Mate Over Okowa If He Had Not Hurriedly Left PDP

…Says governors scared Obi out of PDP
…He ‘wounded’ my votes in South South, South East, Atiku admits

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2023 elections in Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has revealed the circumstances that led to the exit of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, from the PDP.

Abubakar revealed this on Thursday at a news conference where he rejected the outcome of the February 25 poll.

He said it was governors elected on the platform of the party that made demands which made Obi depart, but that he stood and fought them to a standstill.

He said: “I think Peter was in a rush.

“When the campaign started and our PDP Governors said that they must produce the president among them, they must produce the vice president among them, they must produce Chief of Staff amongst them, Peter got scared and left.

“I did not get scared. I stood up against the Governors.

“When we formed the PDP, some of them were perhaps in secondary school or in university. So, why should I be afraid And I stood up and fought them and I won the primaries.

“So, if he were there, nothing would have stopped him from becoming a running mate because I had the right of choosing who would be my running mate.”

On how Obi’s departure to the Labour Party affected his chances at getting the required number of votes and states for the election, the former Vice President said: “Yes, to some extent, he wounded the PDP because all the votes he got were PDP votes in the South East and South South.

“But whether he will achieve his objective is something left to God to decide.

“If he was there, nothing could have stopped him from becoming my running mate.”

(The Eagle Online excluding headline)