I did not pick Wike as running mate in 2023 because he wasn’t PDP’s first choice, says Atiku

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, says he did not pick a former Rivers State governor and now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike because he came second among those considered for the job.

The former Vice President said this in an interview with Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie on her yet to be broadcast television show: “Untold Stories.”

Daily Trust, which was given a preview of the interview, reports that Abubakar said: “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 (Olusegun) 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.’”

Abubakar said when he asked Obasanjo for a nomination, the former president suggested Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the current Director General of the World Trade Organization, who had previously served as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy.

He added: “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 (Chukwuma Charles) 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 (Senator Aminu) 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 objections?

“You are leaders of the party and also leaders of the governors’ forum.’”

Abubakar said after they assured him that they had no objection, he asked them to announce Obi as his running mate.

However, he later came under criticism for supposedly failing to consult widely.

He said: “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.’”

According to the former Vice President, the committee submitted three names: then Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as the first choice; Wike as the second; and then Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, as the third.

“So I picked number one,” he said

He added that his decision not to pick Wike was simply because he was the second choice on the list.