Former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has disclosed how ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo suggested Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State, and ex-Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi as his running mate in 2019.
Atiku said despite settling for Obi and ignoring the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, he was accused of not consulting widely for taking his decision.
He disclosed this in an interview with Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie and published by Daily Trust on Wednesday.
According to Atiku: “In 2019, when I won the ticket in Port Harcourt, I came back here and then went straight to Abeokuta to meet my boss, President Obasanjo, and told him, ‘Mr. President, I have got the ticket.’
“So he asked me, he said, ‘Okay, from where is your running mate going to come from?’ I said, of course, it’s either South-east or South-west. He said, ‘No, leave South-west because I was there for eight years. Go to the South-east.’ I said, ‘Okay, sir.’
“So I told him Ngozi was not a member of our party. I believe if I forward the name to the party, they will reject it. He said, ‘Okay. What about Soludo?’ I said Soludo too was not a member of our party, so they will not accept.
“And he said, ‘What about Peter Obi?’ I said Peter Obi is a member of the party. So that was it. So I came back here in this very same building, very same room, and it was a morning meeting of the party leaders—Uche Secondus and others, including Wike himself and Tambuwal.
“I remember there were about seven of them. I said, ‘Look, I have been to my boss, and this is what he said. Do you have any objection? You are leaders of the party and also leaders of the governors’ forum.”
Atiku said after they assured him that they had no objection, he asked them to announce Obi as his running mate.
“They said I did not consult with the party enough. So in 2023, I threw the whole thing to the party. I said, ‘Okay, set up a committee and recommend three people for me to pick as running mate,” he added.
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