I chose running mate I can work with: Atiku defends choice of Okowa as VP

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, declared yesterday that his choice of Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate in next year’s election was informed by the realization that the two of them could work together “amicably”.

“I picked who can deliver,” Atiku said on Arise Television even as he and the party are still struggling to placate Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike almost two months after the latter was overlooked as vice presidential candidate.

The former vice president, who also spoke on a wide range of issues, denied reports that he jettisoned the report of a PDP committee recommending Wike for the job.

He dismissed the chances of Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 race, saying Obi and his party would require a miracle to emerge victorious.

Explaining how and why he went for Okowa and not Wike, he said: “I held wide consultations with various stakeholders in our party including our governors, the National Working Committee, Board of Trustees and other leaders to seek their input and their wisdom.

“In these consultations, I made it clear that my running mate would have the potential to succeed me at a moment’s notice, that is, a President-in-waiting.

“In other words, the person must have the qualities to be President. The person must have an appreciation of the deep rot which our country has been put into by the rudderless All Progressives Congress government; understands the great suffering that most of our people are going through and the urgency of relieving them of that suffering; understands the critical importance of economic growth and development to provide our young people with jobs, hope, and a pathway to wealth.”

He said his decision did not amount to rejecting Wike.

“Governor Wike was not rejected. Nobody was rejected in the party. But you must understand that it’s the prerogative of the candidate to pick his running mate — a running mate he believes he can work with amicably, and then also deliver the policies of the party, and also try to unify the country,” Atiku said.

He added: “Governor Wike is a brilliant politician. He’s courageous, tenacious. I believe he has a future in the political evolution of this country.

“It’s not a question of rejection. Certainly not. I think it’s too harsh a word to say that we rejected governor Wike. Certainly not.”

He said efforts were on to reconcile with Wike and his camp.

On claims that he jettisoned the report of a PDP committee recommending Wike as his best option as running mate, Atiku said there was nothing of the sort.

“From the report sent to me, the committee said, ‘we forward to you three names and that there was no mention of voting at the selection committee”, Atiku said.

He challenged the Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom, who was one of those who made the allegation, to contradict him.

He said: “The committee that was set up at my own instance deliberated. There was no vote, and they recommended three names, because they knew it was my prerogative to pick any one of the three. So, there was actually no vote. It’s not true.

“He (Governor Ortom) himself chaired that committee. He knew there was no vote taken, and I have the report of that committee.

“The committee recommended three people and I picked one. I did not go out of that recommendation. So, I think people should be fair to me and should also state the fact.”

Asked to rate the chances of Obi who was his running mate in the 2019 presidential election, Atiku said the LP candidate stood little or no chance.

His words: “I really don’t expect the Labour Party to take as many votes from the PDP as people are suggesting.

“We could have seen it in the last election in Osun State. What is the performance of the Labour Party?

“This is a party that doesn’t have a governor, doesn’t have members of the National Assembly, doesn’t have State Assembly members.

“Politics in this country depends on the structures you have at the various levels — at the local government level, at the state level, and at the national level.”

Atiku also downplayed Obi’s influence in the social media, saying that 90 per cent of the people in the North are not on social media.

That, he insinuated, would limit the chances of the LP in the 2023 presidential election.

“So, it is very difficult to expect a miracle to happen simply because Peter Obi is in the Labour Party. After all, they were saying on social media that they had more than one million votes in Osun State. But how many votes were returned for the Labour Party?

“And then again, mark you, you are talking about social media. In the north, 90 per cent of our people are not tuned to social media.”

On the controversy that trailed PDP’s decision to pick its presidential candidate from the North when the ticket should have gone to the south, Atiku said power is negotiated and not transferred.

He faulted the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for opting for a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the presidential race.

“I don’t think it is right for a multi ethnic and religious society like Nigeria,” Atiku said. But he stressed that politics aside, he remains friends with the APC flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.  (Nation)