Paul Ibe, the spokesperson for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has blamed the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, for Peter Obi’s defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Ibe said this during an interview on Seun Okinbaloye’s Mic On podcast monitored by SaharaReporters on TikTok.
According to Ibe, what pushed Peter Obi out of the PDP was Wike’s insistence that the party’s presidential ticket should go to the Southern region and not be narrowed down to the Southeast.
He said Atiku wanted the PDP to zone the 2023 presidential ticket to the Southeast but Wike worked against it.
Ibe said: “Atiku did not force Peter Obi out of the party, Wike was instrumental in the exit of Obi because Wike had promoted the zoning of the presidency to the south.
“Atiku Abubakar had said that he was prepared to get himself off the ticket if the party zoned the ticket to the Southeast.
“Wike frustrated that effort because he believed that if it was zoned to the south, not the southeast, he would be in the best position to be able to get the ticket.”
Obi was the PDP’s vice-presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election, but he left the party to join the Labour Party (LP) ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
He later became a third force in the last presidential election, winning over six million votes.
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Atiku was the candidate of the PDP in the election.
The election was won by Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress but some analysts have said that Obi with the PDP ticket or an Atiku/Obi candidacy would have been strong enough to defeat Tinubu in the election.
The PDP and LP have failed to overcome their internal conflict after losing to the APC in the 2023 election.
Some of their chieftains have left the party in recent times.
For instance, SaharaReporters reported how a former presidential aspirant of the party from Abia State, Chief Cosmos Ndukwe, announced his resignation from the party in April.
In his letter posted on his Facebook page, Ndukwe said “this is time to leave PDP family”.
“I am potting out for good, new destination to be announced soon.
“My letter has started its journey to the ward chairman, LG chairman, State Chairman and Ag National chairman,” he said.
His resignation letter addressed to the PDP chairman, Item C Ward, Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, reads, “I hope this letter finds you well. It is with a heavy heart that I compose this correspondence to tender my resignation as a member and stakeholder in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Abia State, effective immediately.”
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