The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Chairman,
Iyorchia Ayu, has stated that the ”calm, articulate and brilliant” attitude of
the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa was considered for his selection as the
running mate for the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 general
election.
He also noted that aside from the governor’s disposition,
the national leadership of the party has decided to “reward” Delta State with
the keenly contested position after the PDP presidential primary in May 2022.
Speaking on Wednesday in Warri North Local Government Area
of the State during the inauguration of the Ogheye Floating Market, Ayu accused
the ruling party of taking Nigeria back by 50 years, urging the people of the
State to vote out the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the forthcoming
general election.
“The destruction that the APC administration has done to
this nation has taken us back 50 years. And when we recognised the sterling
contributions of Governor Okowa – his character as a calm, articulate and
brilliant young man, we, the leadership of the party, felt he should be promoted
upstairs, and therefore, he was selected with the approval of our presidential
candidate, Atiku Abubakar as the next vice president of Nigeria,” he said.
Ayu has been at the centre of the crisis rocking the main
opposition party immediately after its presidential primary last year.
Atiku, who is a former vice president, won the primary
conducted in Abuja last year with Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike as his
closest contender.
Permutations were rife in the wake of the primary that Atiku
would pick Wike as his running mate, but in a twist of events, he settled for
Okowa, who is considered by some stalwarts as less strong in the party compared
to Wike.
Following the episode, Wike and four other PDP serving
governors known as the Integrity Group or G-5 have demanded the resignation of
Ayu in what they described as calls for “justice and equity” within the party.
The G-5 governors noted that it is opposed to “northern
dominance” in the leadership of the party, saying Adamawa-born Atiku and
Benue-born Ayu cannot be the party’s presidential candidate and national
chairman, respectively.
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