The Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, has countered Atiku Abubakar’s claim that he (Atiku) picked Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate for the 2023 presidential election because a committee set up by the PDP rated him (Okowa) as its first choice for the position.
Atiku was the PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 election, which was won by Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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The former vice-president contested in the 2023 presidential election with Mr Okowa, a former governor of Delta State, as his vice-presidential candidate.
Atiku’s claim
During an interview on Untold Stories with Adesuwa, published on Wednesday, Atiku recalled that after losing in the 2019 presidential election, some PDP leaders blamed him for choosing Peter Obi as his running mate without “consulting adequately.”
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The former vice president said that following the 2019 incident, he decided to allow the party leaders to choose his running mate in 2023.
“So in 2023, I told the party to set up a committee to recommend three names for me to pick one as running mate. And they set up a committee, and they came up with (three) recommendations. Number one, number two, number three. So I picked number one (Mr Okowa),” he said.
Atiku revealed that the committee’s second-choice candidate was Mr Wike, while the third was Udom Emmanuel, a former Akwa Ibom State governor.
‘It’s false’
But reacting in a statement by his spokesperson, Lere Olayinka, on Saturday, Mr Wike described the claim as false.
The FCT minister said that contrary to the claims, the committee had organised an internal election to pick Atiku’s running mate.
He said that although he had polled 13 votes against Mr Okowa’s two votes, Atiku decided to pick the former governor, insisting that the committee never presented any running mate to the Adamawa-born politician.
Mr Wike accused Atiku of telling lies even during the Holy Month of Ramadan, despite being a Muslim.
“Wike never put himself forward to be Atiku’s running mate then, Atiku did by himself, and he (Wike) accepted his offer with conditions.”
“The committee set up by the PDP picked Wike as Atiku’s running mate, but for reasons best known to him, he settled for Okowa, who had two votes from the committee members. That’s the truth Atiku should tell and stand with, not trying to colour his decision with falsehood,” he said.
‘Stand by your decisions’
Mr Wike advised Atiku to always be honest and stand by his decisions, adding that he (Wike) was no longer interested in the events of the 2023 presidential election.
The FCT minister stressed that he has no regret that Atiku did not pick him as his running mate and that he does not regret “taking the position he took concerning the presidential election.”
Background
Mr Wike and Atiku had been locked in a protracted face-off over the zone to produce the PDP presidential candidate in 2023.
Mr Wike had argued that it was the turn of Southern Nigeria to produce the country’s president.
Atiku hails from Northern Nigeria, where the then-outgoing President, Muhammadu Buhari, also comes from.
During the PDP primary election, Mr Wike lost to Atiku, who emerged the party’s flag-bearer for the 2023 election.
The then-governor formed an alliance with four other governors aggrieved with Atiku and the party’s National Chairperson, Iyorchia Ayu.
Mr Wike led the group called G5 Governors.
Apart from Mr Wike, other members of the group included Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu State) Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and their Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde.
The group had demanded the resignation of the then PDP National Chairperson, Mr Ayu, to allow a southerner to lead the party and achieve a “regional balance.”
Their argument was that both Mr Ayu and Atiku hail from northern Nigeria.
The feud worsened after Atiku refused to pick Mr Wike as his running mate.
Atiku later lost in the 2023 presidential election after coming second with 6,984, 520 votes behind the eventual winner, Mr Tinubu of the APC, who polled 8, 794, 726 votes.
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The G5 governors’ withdrawal of support for Atiku was said to be among the reasons for the PDP candidate’s loss at the poll.
While some of the G5 governors supported Mr Obi of the Labour Party, others backed the APC’s Mr Tinubu, now Nigeria’s president.
Mr Wike supported Mr Tinubu of the APC in the election and “helped” him to “win” in Rivers despite being a PDP state.
Mr Tinubu subsequently appointed the former governor as the minister of the FCT.
Mr Wike has remained in the PDP despite serving as a minister in the APC-led federal government.
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