Atiku: Peter Obi under pressure to return to PDP

Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State is currently under pressure to return to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, IDOMA VOICE can report.

Obi, who was the running mate to Atiku Abubakar in the 2019 presidential election, had a few days back dumped the party after earlier purchasing the PDP’s presidential forms.

Obi, a business mogul from Anambra, had said that recent developments within the party made it practically impossible for him to continue participating and making constructive contributions.

The former Anambra State Governor formally joined the Labour Party days after announcing his exit from the Peoples Democratic Party, IDOMA VOICE reports.

He is expected to contest the presidential primary on the platform of his new party alongside renowned economist, Pat Utomi.

“I thank all Nigerians, especially our youths who have joined me in the mission of taking back and reuniting Nigeria,” Obi said in an announcement on his verified Twitter handle.

But, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State claimed Obi lacks integrity and he left PDP because he knew he would not win the presidential ticket.

“Peter Obi leaving the party is not surprising to me. He knows that there is no way he would have won the presidential primaries. Forget about what Doyin Okuope said about sharing money.”

Wike, however, lost the ticket to Atiku after polling 237 votes behind the winner who got 371 votes.

IDOMA VOICE gathered that following the emergence of Atiku as the PDP candidate, Obi is said to have been approached by some top members of the PDP to come back to the party to deputize his former boss, Atiku.

A source said some top party members want to pacify the southeast by ceding its VP slot to the region.

The source told IDOMA VOICE reporter that if Obi accepts and returns, the party would plead with Wike to support the Atiku/Obi joint ticket for the PDP to get bloc votes from the zone.

Obi had in a congratulatory message to Atiku, described the former VP as his boss and elder brother.

However, Obi is said not to be interested in the VP slot or PDP any longer.
Meanwhile, emergence of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has unsettled the camp of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, IDOMA VOICE earlier reported.

This is said to have also thrown the camps of Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and the national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, off balance.