Why Atiku considers Okowa as his running partner in 2023—Ayu

Ifeanyi Okowa’s qualities have been mentioned by Iyorchia Ayu, national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Delta State Governor’s “cool, articulate, and smart” demeanour, according to Ayu, was taken into account while choosing him as the running partner for the party’s presidential candidate in the general election of 2023.

Along with the governor’s attitude, he added, the national party leadership had made the decision to “reward” Delta State with the hotly contested position following the PDP presidential primary in May 2022.

At the opening of the Ogheye Floating Market in Warri North Local Government Area of the State on Wednesday, Ayu said that Nigeria was going backwards by fifty years because of the current government. He urged people to vote against the All Progressives Congress, or APC, in the upcoming election.

“The damage the APC administration has wrought on this country has set us back fifty years.” The party’s leadership decided that Governor Okowa should be promoted upstairs after realising his tremendous contributions and his qualities as a composed, intelligent, and brilliant young man. As a result, he was chosen, with the support of our presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to serve as Nigeria’s next vice president.

The biggest opposition party was in the midst of a crisis after its presidential primary last year, and Ayu was at the centre of it.

Former Vice President Atiku defeated Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike to claim victory in the Abuja primary last year.

After the primary, there were many scenarios in which Atiku would choose Wike as his running mate. However, in an unexpected turn of events, he chose Okowa, who is viewed by some party veterans as being less powerful than Wike.

Following the incident, Wike and the G-5, a group of four PDP governors who are currently in office, have sought Ayu’s resignation in an effort to promote “justice and equity” inside the party.

The G-5 governors said that they don’t want “northern dominance” in the top positions of the party and that Atiku, who was born in Adamawa, and Ayu, who was born in Benue, can’t be the party’s presidential nominee and national chairman, respectively, because they were both born in the north.