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By Clifford Ndujihe, Politics Editor & Omeiza Ajayi, LAGOS
Fresh details of the reasons former governor of Anambra State, and presidential aspirant, Mr Peter Obi, resigned from the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and quit seeking the party’s 2023 presidential ticket emerged yesterday.
Obi, who was the vice-presidential candidate of the party in 2019, during which his South-East zone contributed more votes to the PDP than the North-East, the zone of the presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was left with nothing after the power game, it was learned.
In 2019, with Obi on the ballot as running mate to Atiku, the PDP garnered 1,693,485 votes (75 per cent) from the five states of the South-East; and 1,255,357 votes (27.5 per cent) from the North-East.
Conversely, the APC polled 403,968 votes (19 per cent) in the South-East and 3,238,783 votes (67.5 per cent) in the North-East.
“However, most of the PDP governors said they will back Atiku if he makes one of them his running mate. This led to a highwire conspiracy against Obi in the PDP. So he had to look elsewhere to pursue his aspirations.”
Indeed, in his resignation letter to the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, the former Anambra State governor said he was quitting the PDP because the party had made it impossible for him to continue to contribute to nation-building on its platform.
Obi wrote: “I am writing to intimate you of my resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party, which was conveyed to the Chairman of Agulu Ward 2. Anaocha LGA, Anambra, effective Friday 20 May 2022. Consequently, I am by this letter informing you of my withdrawal from the PDP Presidential Primaries.
“It has been a great honour to contribute to nation-building efforts through our party. Unfortunately, recent developments within our party make it practically impossible to continue participating and making such constructive contributions
“Our national challenges are deep-seated and require that we each make profound sacrifices towards rescuing our country. My commitment to rescuing Nigeria remains firm, even if the route differs