Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has expressed his desire to retain former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, as his running mate if he clinches the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Daily Independent has gathered.
Atiku and Obi were both presidential candidate and Vice-Presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2019 general election which they lost to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) which fielded President Muhammadu Buhari as its flagbearer.
However, credible sources in the party said the moves by Atiku is facing stiff resistance by PDP governors who want him to pick one of them from the Southern as his running mate.
According to our sources, that is the reason why some of the governors are picking the presidential forms of the PDP which they plan to use as negotiation for the VP slot.
Even though Peter Obi has already picked the PDP presidential form and has been screened to participate in the primaries, an associate of Atiku on Monday informed our correspondent that the Waziri of Adamawa has said he would like to retain the 2019 team with Peter Obi as Vice-President if he wins the PDP ticket.
When asked why Peter Obi is running, he said it is because the PDP will throw the presidential ticket open as recommended by the zoning committee of the party.
“Peter Obi is running because the party did not zone the ticket to any region; they will certainly throw the ticket open.
Every qualified aspirant will contest and the best will emerge as the candidate of the party. We can’t ask him not to contest since the ticket is not zoned to any particular region.
What if he wins? “If Obi is lucky enough to get the majority of the delegates and becomes the presidential candidate, @ atiku and all of us will give him maximum support,” he said.
A former member of the party’s National Working Committee who also confirmed the development said while Atiku prefers Obi, he may pander to the wishes of the governors as they are the major powerbrokers in the party.