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The Peoples Democratic Party in the South-East has reached out to the leadership of the party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to ensure that the PDP standard-bearer picks his running mate from the zone.
The leadership of the party in the South-East posited that having failed to cede the presidential ticket to the zone, which had consistently supported the PDP since 1999, the only thing left for the party was to cede the vice-presidential slot to it.
The Eastern Updates recalls that Atiku had in May emerged the winner of the PDP presidential primary after defeating other aspirants including a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim and an ex-President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Sam Ohuabunwa.
After the PDP primary, the apex socio-cultural organisation for the Igbo, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, criticised the party for betraying the zone.
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A few days to the primary, Atiku’s running mate in 2019, Mr Peter Obi, dumped the party and joined the Labour Party on whose platform he would contest the 2023 presidential election.
The Eastern Updates reports that there has been growing support for Obi since he joined the LP. Analysts have warned that Obi’s defection to the LP might affect the chances of the PDP in the South-East, where its presidential candidate got 1.6 million votes in 2019 against over 403,000 votes garnered by the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
The Publicity Secretary of the Anambra State PDP, Nnamdi Nwagwu, in an interview with newsmen confirmed that the South-East had demanded the vice-presidential slot like the South-South.
He noted that both the PDP and the APC had sidelined the South-East, adding that it is only in the PDP that the zone could get the VP slot.
He added that only the VP slot could, at least, secure votes for the party in the South-East.
He said, ‘They (South-East leaders) are making such a demand for the VP slot. Let us see how it goes. They are making the demand because every party has sidelined the South-East and it is only in the PDP that they can get the VP slot because they cannot get it from the APC as the APC already has a southern presidential candidate.
‘Only the VP slot can secure votes for the party in the zone, if not, it will be difficult to wrest the votes of the region from Peter Obi. And let us see how it goes if the VP slot will be given or not.’
On its part, the Imo State chapter of the PDP said that it was not perturbed by the growing acceptability of Obi in the South-East.
The Director-General of the New Media of the PDP in the state, Collins Opuruzor, said that the PDP in the region was not worried about Obi’s candidature.
He said that the party was mobilising for the victory of the PDP not only in the south-East but across the country.
