The choice of Peter Obi as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential running mate to Atiku Abubakar in next year’s election has divided the party in the Southeast. OKODILI NDIDI reports the intrigues.
FORMER Anambra State Governor Peter Obi may have been picked by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar as his running mate in the 2019 election without much consideration. His choice is creating ripples in the Southeast.
Disturbed by the development, the PDP leadership in the zone summoned an emergency meeting of critical stakeholders in Enugu.
The meeting, initially scheduled for the party’s zonal headquarters, was later shifted to the Independence Layout residence of the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.
At the meeting were three PDP governors of Ebonyi (Dave Umahi); Abia (Okezie Ikpeazu) and Enugu (Ifeanyi Ugwanyi), some National Assembly members from the zone, zonal leaders and others.
Addressing reporters after the meeting, Governor Umahi said that the leadership of the party was unaware of Obi’s choice as running mate. He said nobody consulted them.
The governor said that they only heard the appointment on social media, saying they expected they would have been carried along prior to the announcement.
He said they expected that Abubakar would visit to inform them about his choice of Obi.
But, the PDP candidate in the 2017 Anambra State governorship election, Oseloka Obaze, faulted the position of the party leadership on Atiku’s choice.
Obaze told reporters after the meeting that it had never been heard of how a presidential candidate would consult on a zonal level before choosing a running mate.
He noted that the antics of few individuals within the party and cautioned that they needed not go into the election divided.
“As the leader of the party in Anambra, I want to say that we support the choice of Peter Obi. He is our son but we are here saying we are not aware of his nomination.
“We need to support him and the party,” he said.
Obaze said that the conduct of the governors who took off from the residence of Ekweremadu without meeting with party faithful who attended the meeting was most regrettable.
“I have heard corridor talks about passing a resolution to repudiate the selection of Obi as Atiku’s running mate.
“I hope that those who champion such cause will also have the courage to sign their names to the resolution so that in the fullness of time our posterity will appreciate our folly.
“If we lose the present opportunity to produce the vice president due to the whims of a few among us, Ndigbo will never recover the past and history will be unkind to us,” Obaze said. (The Nation)
