•Obi joined Labour Party in 2022 and contested against Atiku and Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.
•He secured over six million votes to emerge third position in the race.
Paul Ibe, media adviser to Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, says Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), orchestrated Peter Obi’s exit from the Peoples Democratic Party.
Ibe disclosed this on “Mic On podcast” an interview on Saturday.
The media adviser recounted how Wike frustrated efforts of the party to zone the 2023 presidential ticket to the southeast because of his interest to contest in the 2023 presidential election.
Ibe said that Atiku was willing to let go his presidential aspiration on the condition that the presidency was micro-zoned to the southeast region where Obi hails from.
Recall that Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) On May 25, 2022.
The former governor of Anambra joined the Labour Party On May 27, 2022.
Obi was declared the winner of the Labour Party (LP) presidential primary on May 30, 2022.
Reacting to the antecedent of the feud in the PDP, Ibe stated that Atiku was ready to zone the PDP presidential ticket to the southeast but Wike countered Atiku’s condition and promoted that the ticket be thrown open to the three sub-regions in the south (south-east, south-west and south-south).
“Wike was also instrumental in the exit of Obi because he promoted the zoning of the presidency to the south. He frustrated that effort because he believed that if it was zoned to the south, not the south east, he would be in the best position to get the (PDP) ticket,” Ibe said.
“Whatever interest that Wike is doing, clearly shows that it’s at variance with the interest of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
“There is no doubt about it that the Atiku-Obi ticket of 2019 was viable and it still remains viable because the Labour Party took away some of the votes of the PDP (in the 2023 presidential election).”
Obi later became a reckoning force in the 2023 presidential election, securing over six million votes.
