The People’s Democratic Party, PDP presidential flag bearer Atiku Abubakar has today announced the selection of Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate.
This comes after weeks of inter-party deliberations on who would be the best candidate to run alongside the former Vice President.
The announcement confirms suspicions that were rife that Atiku’s best strategy would be to select a candidate from the south.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike who emerged second in the PDP presidential primaries as well as Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel were in addition to Okowa rumored to be among Atiku’s preferred choices for Vice President.
At the unveiling ceremony of Okowa as VP which was held in Abuja on Thursday, June 16th, Atiku took to stage to reveal the reasons why he selected Okowa as his running mate. The former Vice President highlighted the qualities he was looking out for saying;
“…In arriving at the decision, I held wide consultations with various stakeholders in our party including our Governors, National Working Committee, Board of Trustees, and other leaders to seek their inputs and their wisdom. In these consultations, I made clear that my running mate would have the potential to succeed me at a moment’s notice, that is, a President-in-waiting.
In other words, the person must have the qualities to be President. The person must have an appreciation of the deep rot which our country has been put into by the rudderless APC government; understands the great suffering that most of our people are going through and the urgency of relieving them of that suffering; understands the critical importance of economic growth and development to provide our young people with jobs, hope, and a pathway to wealth.”
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Further eulogizing his selected choice Atiku concluded by saying;
“Please join me in welcoming to the ticket the next Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Governor Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa. You know him to be a fighter; you know him to care about winning; you know him to care about good governance, and you know him to care about our people. Now, my dear friends, let’s do the disciplined hard work necessary to win this election. Let’s go. Thank you very much.”
The opposition party PDP becomes the first to unveil her running mate ahead of the February 2023 polls.
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