How promise of vice presidency to multiple candidates caused a storm

Igbo leaders demand agreement on single term

It has emerged that the immediate pushback by South-east leaders against the choice of their kinsman, Mr. Peter Obi, as running mate to the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in next year’s election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was due to an alleged multiplicity of persons promised the same post. Atiku was said to have promised about five people from the zone the same position, but settled for Obi without running it by the others.

Thus, rather than elicit excitement, Atiku’s eventual pick of Obi caused unexpected rage among the political elite in the South-east, as a majority of them considered his decision without consultation a betrayal.

Among those believed to have been promised the vice presidential position were the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; Chairman, South-east Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief David Umahi; Obi himself; and two others, whose identities could not be immediately ascertained at the time of going to press.


THISDAY learnt that Atiku was advised by his campaign team to promise as many people as possible the vice presidential position, which was exactly what he did as a way to corner the South-east votes at the convention. It was on the basis of this that many of the potential picks went to work and campaigned vigorously, mobilising the South-east states to support Atiku’s presidential bid and at the same time committing huge personal resources in the hope that an Atiku win would automatically catapult their political career.

Unfortunately, while they were still celebrating Atiku’s victory and the hitch-free convention that brought him, the news broke on the social media that Atiku had settled for Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, as his running mate.

According to one of the former vice presidential hopefuls, who preferred anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue, he was shocked by the news.

“I thought it was fake news, when I first heard it on the social media,” he said. “I was shocked. It hit me so hard I couldn’t believe it, not even the courtesy of one phone call to let me know things had changed and that the promise earlier made to me was no longer feasible. At least, I would understand.” Another person said to have been promised the same post also lamented the way Atiku eventually made his pick without recourse to them.

He said, “Many of us were disappointed. We expected that having emerged as the PDP candidate the running mate pick would go through a process that would eventually lead to his pick. But that was not the case. We had even thought of involving APGA to get their buy-in so that the entire South-east would be involved in the selection process, which would have put us in a very strong position going into the election.

“Right now, Atiku does not have APGA on his side and this is critical if we must mobilise the entire South-east to turn out massively to vote. Don’t forget Goodluck Jonathan lost by about two million votes, if South-east had turned out massively to vote, the story would have been different.

“So, the strong resistance from the South-east leaders wasn’t so much a rejection of Peter Obi, but more about the disappointment by some of those that Atiku had promised the same position and the lack of consultation that led to the eventual pick of Obi.”

The choice of Obi as running mate seems to have particularly affected the political career of Ekweremdu, presently the highest political office holder from the South-east. Should Atiku win the presidency in 2019, Ekweremadu, assuming he goes back to the senate cannot remain Deputy Senate President since Peter Obi would be the Vice President. The position of Deputy Senate President would naturally be zoned to another region to maintain balance and representation. So what is there for Ekweremadu?

Many are of the view that Atiku bungled the process of picking his running mate and, ultimately, watered down the momentum his emergence had generated. Multiple sources close to opinion moulders in the South-east have expressed fear that should Buhari strike a deal with the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), it may create problems for Atiku.

Already, many of Atiku supporters are believed to be worried about South-east mobilisation in next year’s general election, especially, since the governors, who are unhappy with the current situation, are effectively in control of their people.

Many stakeholders are now of the view that if the Atiku/Obi ticket is to have the kind of acceptance expected from the zone, Atiku and his team would have to properly manage the situation without giving the impression that “there is nothing they can do about the decision he has taken”.

THISDAY has also learnt that Igbo leaders are demanding an agreement from Atiku on his offer to do just one term of four years which was one of the selling point to get South-east support.


https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/10/28/why-atikus-peter-obi-pick-divided-south-east/?amp

THISDAY learnt that Atiku was advised by his campaign team to promise as many people as possible the vice presidential position, which was exactly what he did as a way to corner the South-east votes at the convention. It was on the basis of this that many of the potential picks went to work and campaigned vigorously, mobilising the South-east states to support Atiku’s presidential bid and at the same time committing huge personal resources in the hope that an Atiku win would automatically catapult their political career.

This speaks volumes about the person of Atiku

Who cares.

At the end he made the right choice, picking the most qualified, most hardworking and most integrity VP from Igboland.

Every other talk is backyard gossip.

when fashola openly gave strategy for Yoruba to capture power come 2023 their youths called us names, little did we know they secretly have similar plans only difference is atiku can never agree to single term,
loyalty and first allegiance always goes to your nationality/ethnicity in a multi-ethnic/nationality country it happened in USSR, it happened with the Irish, Scottish, welsh and British. Hypocrites should save us the bigot name calling B.S. 2019 all man for himself

Atiku dribbled 5 people, he is about dribbling an entire tribe.

All of them that are divided are all useless...

Who cares about them?

Selfish and useless group of politicians!!!

iammo:
when fashola openly gave strategy for Yoruba to capture power come 2023 their youths called us names, little did we know they secretly have similar plans

Lol...

Agritech:
Atiku dribbled 5 people.

And in the end, he scored with Obi

Thisday, stop further investigation on this matter,we have a vice presidential candidate. APC zombies can wail or jump into lagoon. Press like button for PDP

There is no division.

Atiku will do his two term.

Giving Atiku one extra term in office is better than having Buhari in power and herdsmen overrun our communities whilst being protected by the state.

Femi Adesina already told us to hand over our ancestral lands to stay alive.

It is foolish handing another 4yrs to a man who presided over the killing of your people in the hope that you will rule after him. Who told you that you will still be alive at the expiration of that 4yrs?

vanbonattel:

And in the end, he scored with Obi

We never can tell, he might still be dribbling Obi.

atiku use them and dump them. play boy things

He promised them to choose his running mate from SE and so he did. What then is the fuss about? He can't choose all of them at once and must not do it their way, after all what they described here is how they felt it is going to be done not how he promised he is going to do it.
Those from APC who want to call him names because of this should first tell us the promises Mr integrity has kept.

Agritech:


We never can tell, he might still be dribbling Obi.

If he tries dribbling OBI at this dying minutes, he will sustain an injury that will end his political career

They should leave PDP ATIKU and OBI alone.
Enough of all these stupid write-ups against ATIKU Peter Obi ticket...

Who is talking about LIFELESS Osinbanjo ticket

Atiku the desperado scammara.

The East will never unite and agree with 1 voice.
The marginalization is like cancer spreading internally. The result is that they now marginalize themselves.

If Biafra were a reality, they would kill themseles to agree on one president.

If they don’t get their way, they become sellouts, disintergrate to other parties and become errand boys and girls to the same “Bastards of the North” they loathe so much.

I can understand selling your political birthright in other ethnic groups of Nigeria, but not within the IGBOS that paid a hefty price during the civil war.

Why do the IGBOS remain so disharmonious?
Did they not learn from the past?

If Peter Obi was chosen as VP, that is the best Igbos can do for now. Support now and address your concerns later. A house divided can never stand challenges. Afterall, what true powers do VPs have? Who knows Donald Trump’s VP?

But why is Moghalu not popular in the east his homestead?

KanwuliaExtra:
The East will never unite and agree with 1 voice.
The marginalization is like cancer spreading internally. The result is that they now marginalize themselves.

If Biafra were a reality, they would kill themseles to agree on one president.

If they don’t get their way, they become sellouts, disintergrate to other parties and become errand boys and girls to the same “Bastards of the North” they loathe so much.

I can understand selling your political birthright in other ethnic groups of Nigeria, but not within the IGBOS that paid a hefty price during the civil war.

Why do the IGBOS remain so disharmonious?
Did they not learn from the past?

If Peter Obi was chosen as VP, that is the best Igbos can do for now. Support now and address your concerns later. A house divided can never stand challenges. Afterall, what true powers do VPs have? Who knows Donald Trump’s VP?

The bulk of Igbos support Peter Obi. 5 Eastern governor's can't make you say they aren't harmonious and it went this far cos it's Ekweremadu that is behind all that.

Which disharmony again? Igbos have been delivering bloc votes ever, is that not one voice enough?
When they divide votes, some call it disunity. Please, your submission on this matter isn't accurate.

It's the North's turn to produce presidency 2019, look how many of them that turned up. And they have lots of political enemies as well.
The press is intentionally elongating this matter and adding life to it when it had dies down. Ever since Peter Obi was made VP candidate, the East has long been Atikulated.

Fiction news

We are very ok with Obi. All these useless and selfish politicians should get out of the way biko.
If Atiku performs well let him do a second term. The main issue at hand is to make Nigeria work again. Let the country be restructured. Not Igbo President nonsense.

InyinyaAgbaOku:


The bulk of Igbos support Peter Obi. 5 Eastern governor's can't make you say they aren't harmonious and it went this far cos it's Ekweremadu that is behind all that.

Which disharmony again? Igbos have been delivering bloc votes ever, is that not one voice enough?
When they divide votes, some call it disunity. Please, your submission on this matter isn't accurate.

It's the North's turn to produce presidency 2019, look how many of them that turned up. And they have lots of political enemies as well.
The press is intentionally elongating this matter and adding life to it when it had dies down. Ever since Peter Obi was made VP candidate, the East has long been Atikulated.

If you say so.
I would have expected all of the East to be one party system. I hope Anambra APGA and IMO APC are atikulating too?

A 3-party system in the East looks like disharmony to me. In just within 5 SE states?

Atiku obi all way.


Umahi and his greedy fellows should. Rest.

KanwuliaExtra:



If you say so.
I would have expected all of the East to be one party system. I hope Anambra APGA and IMO APC are atikulating too?

A 3-party system in the East looks like disharmony to me. In just within 5 SE states?

We. Are already

KanwuliaExtra:



If you say so.
I would have expected all of the East to be one party system. I hope Anambra APGA and IMO APC are atikulating too?

A 3-party system in the East looks like disharmony to me. In just within 5 SE states?

Anambra was apga state in 2015 yet they voted for GEJ. Atiku will get bloc vote from the east.
The level of dislike for Buhari in the east is so high.

Nwadiuto247:


Anambra was apga state in 2015 yet they voted for GEJ. Atiku will get bloc vote from the east.
The level of dislike for Buhari in the east is so high.

Juliusmalema:


We. Are already

What of “Okoroawusa”?
Nor be una brethren?

KanwuliaExtra:




What of “Okoroawusa”?
Nor be una brethren?

We choptas not

KanwuliaExtra:



If you say so.
I would have expected all of the East to be one party system. I hope Anambra APGA and IMO APC are atikulating too?

A 3-party system in the East looks like disharmony to me. In just within 5 SE states?

In presidential election, they are one party and that's all that matters.
APGA usually supports any federal PDP candidate. Which other region does that?
Igbos are politically united to a fault. Some diss them for putting all eggs in one basket sef

InyinyaAgbaOku:


In presidential election, they are one party and that's all that matters.
APGA usually supports any federal PDP candidate. Which other region does that?
Igbos are politically united to a fault. Some diss them for putting all eggs in one basket sef

Are you aware of what is happening in IMO state?

Ordinary Vice- President they are divided, if them come give President nko?

Igbo man na Igbo man problem
Just VP na I'm dey bring katakata like this
If them come bring presidency come na kill dem go start kill