THE ATIKU ABUBAKAR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Why I picked Okowa over Wike as my running mate

*says, there was nothing like voting among the committee set up to choose his running mate

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar on Friday debunked the claims of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state that there was voting among the committee that picked Wike as his running mate and said there was no voting as claimed by Ortom.

Atiku speaking on Arise TV, The Morning Show monitored by our correspondent, said he was only given a list of three persons to pick his running mate from which he did by picking Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State. He said he picked someone he could  work with comfortably

According to him, “I didn’t reject Wike, I picked who can deliver. Wike is brilliant and tenacious. Going by history, I had picked an Igbo as running mate in 2007,  in 2019 and I still picked an Igbo for 2023.

Speaking further, he dismissed the chances of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election.

Atiku stated that the presence of his erstwhile running mate, Peter Obi, could not boost the chances of the party because it has no structure.

He said, “I really don’t expect the Labour Party to take as much votes from the PDP as people are suggesting. We could have seen it in the last election in Osun State. What was the performance of the Labour Party?

“This is a party that doesn’t have a governor, doesn’t have members of the national assembly, doesn’t have members of the state Houses of Assembly. And politics in this country depends on the structures you have at those various levels; at the local level, at the state level and at the national level.

“It is very difficult for a miracle to happen simply because Peter Obi is in the Labour Party.”

On the APC Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, he said, ‘my fundamental disagreement with Asiwaju since 2007 was on the issue of a Muslim-Muslim ticket, which led to my political departure from him.’ Atiku said that the PDP national chair, Iyorchia Ayu will step down if he is elected as president in 2023.