2023 Elections: Atiku Explains Why He Didn’t Pick Wike as Running Mate

Atiku Abubakar, the former vice president, has stated that he has no regrets over his choice to not compete with Nyesom Wike, the incumbent minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in the 2023 election.
In an upcoming interview with Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie for the television program Untold Stories, which is scheduled to air today but was obtained by Daily Trust, Atiku addressed issues about the leadership crisis in the PDP that preceded his selection.
Numerous analysts conjectured that Atiku’s election defeat was influenced by the choice to ignore Wike, who had spearheaded a PDP uprising alongside five other governors. Afterwards, Wike boasted about working against Atiku and giving President Bola Tinubu Rivers State.
When asked if he felt bad about not choosing Wike, Atiku firmly said, “No, not at all.”

Atiku clarified that his choice was based on the party’s internal procedure, bringing up the criticism he received in 2019 for reportedly not conducting extensive consultation before choosing Peter Obi to be his running mate.

Atiku revealed that he spoke with former President Olusegun Obasanjo after obtaining the PDP ticket in Port Harcourt, and he received advice to choose a running mate from the South-East rather than the South-West.

Obasanjo recommended well-known individuals like Charles Soludo and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, but neither was a PDP member, according to Atiku.

Peter Obi, a party member who was also recommended by Obasanjo, was ultimately selected by Atiku. Atiku was given the assurance that there were no objections to Obi being selected as his running mate after speaking with governors and party officials, including as Wike and Aminu Tambuwal. Later on, though, he came under fire for not consulting the party sufficiently.

According to Atiku, in 2023 he made the decision to involve the party in the selection process more and asked them to form a committee to suggest three potential running mates.

The committee recommended three names, according to Atiku: Udom Emmanuel was the third, Wike was the second, and Ifeanyi Okowa was the first.

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Because Wike was the second option on the list, Atiku decided to go with Okowa, the first option, and explained his reasoning.