A newly surfaced document, titled “Report of the Advisory Committee for the Selection of Presidential Running Mate,” has contradicted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s claim regarding his choice of running mate for the 2023 presidential election.
The document, shared on social media by Lere Olayinka, Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, challenges Atiku’s claim that he selected former Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa because he was the committee’s top choice.
Atiku, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), made the claim during an interview on Untold Stories with Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie last week, where he insisted that his decision was guided by party consultation and that he had no regrets about not choosing Wike.
In the interview, Atiku explained that he had learned from past mistakes and allowed the party to decide his running mate. He recounted how in 2019, after securing the PDP ticket, he consulted former President Olusegun Obasanjo on selecting a vice-presidential candidate.
“In 2019, when I won the ticket in Port Harcourt, I came back here and then went straight to Abeokuta to meet my boss, President Obasanjo, and told him, ‘Mr. President, I have got the ticket.’ So he asked me, he said, ‘Okay, from where is your running mate going to come from?’ I said, of course, it’s either South-east or South-west. He said, ‘No, leave South-west because I was there for eight years. Go to the South-east.’ I said, ‘Okay, sir.’”
Atiku recounted that Obasanjo initially suggested Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, now the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and later Charles Soludo, but both were ruled out due to their lack of PDP membership. Ultimately, Peter Obi was chosen after party leaders, including Wike, endorsed the decision.
Following criticism that he had not consulted widely enough in 2019, Atiku said he allowed the PDP to set up a committee to recommend three candidates for his 2023 running mate. According to him, the committee listed Okowa as the first choice, Wike as the second, and former Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel as the third.
“So I picked number one,” Atiku stated, implying that Wike was not the preferred choice by the committee.
However, Olayinka’s leaked document tells a different story. The document shows Wike’s name listed as the first.
Olayinka criticized Atiku for allegedly distorting the truth, even during the holy month of Ramadan.
“How can a committee present the person who had two votes as the first choice over the person who had 13 votes?” he said.
“The committee set up by the PDP picked Wike as Atiku’s running mate, but for reasons best known to him, he settled for Okowa, who had only two votes from the committee members. That’s the truth Atiku should tell and stand with, not trying to colour his decision with falsehood,” he added.