The Peoples Democratic Party’s Presidential candidate for the 2023 general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has stated that his choice of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate over Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is because of his desire to unite Nigeria.

Atiku who spoke on the Arise TV morning show broadcast on Friday, said that it is the prerogative of the candidate to pick his running mate and that it has to be one that, as the candidate, he believes he can work with amicably and also deliver the policies of the party and unify the country.

He said:

“If you can go through history. I was given a ticket in 2007, I picked an Igbo. I was given a ticket in 2019, I picked an Igbo. In 2022, I was given it and I picked an Igbo man again. This is just to show you my desire to unify the country.”

There have been insinuations that Alhaji Atiku rejected Gov. Wike because of his cantankerous nature.
However, the Presidential candidate maintained that there was no case of rejecting anybody, rather his choice was purely to ensure national unity.

In Alhaji Atiku’s words:

“It is not a question of rejection. Certainly not. I think it is too harsh a word to say that we rejected the governor. We can certainly not say that.

“Governor Wike is a brilliant politician. He is courageous; he is tenacious. I believe he has a future in the political evolution of this country.”

He explained that the committee set up by the party at his request nominated three persons for the VP slot and asked him to exercise his prerogative of choice, so he picked an Igbo man in the person of Gov. Okowa.