ormer Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has disclosed how ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo suggested Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State, and ex-Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi as his running mate in 2019.

Atiku said despite settling for Obi and ignoring the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, he was accused of not consulting widely for taking his decision.

He disclosed this in an interview with Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie and published by Daily Trust on Wednesday.

According to Atiku: “In 2019, when I won the ticket in Port Harcourt, I came back here and then went straight to Abeokuta to meet my boss, President Obasanjo, and told him, ‘Mr. President, I have got the ticket.’

“So he asked me, he said, ‘Okay, from where is your running mate going to come from?’ I said, of course, it’s either South-east or South-west. He said, ‘No, leave South-west because I was there for eight years. Go to the South-east.’ I said, ‘Okay, sir.’

“So I told him Ngozi was not a member of our party. I believe if I forward the name to the party, they will reject it. He said, ‘Okay. What about Soludo?’ I said Soludo too was not a member of our party, so they will not accept.

“And he said, ‘What about Peter Obi?’ I said Peter Obi is a member of the party. So that was it. So I came back here in this very same building, very same room, and it was a morning meeting of the party leaders—Uche Secondus and others, including Wike himself and Tambuwal.

“I remember there were about seven of them. I said, ‘Look, I have been to my boss, and this is what he said. Do you have any objection? You are leaders of the party and also leaders of the governors’ forum.”

Atiku said after they assured him that they had no objection, he asked them to announce Obi as his running mate.

“They said I did not consult with the party enough. So in 2023, I threw the whole thing to the party. I said, ‘Okay, set up a committee and recommend three people for me to pick as running mate,” he added.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has opened up on why he failed to pick former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike as his running mate in 2023.

According to report Wike lost the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential ticket for the 2023 election to Atiku.

There were high expectations that Wike would deputize the former VP in the election, but he picked former Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa instead.

Many party stakeholders believe that the decision birthed the present face-off between Atiku and Wike, who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

In a yet-to-be-aired interview for a television show, Untold Stories, with Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie, scheduled for broadcast today, Wednesday, Atiku recalled how party leaders accused him of not consulting widely before picking former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi as his running mate in 2019.

“They said I did not consult with the party enough. So in 2023, I threw the whole thing to the party. I said, ‘Okay, set up a committee and recommend three people for me to pick as a running mate”, he said.

The former VP noted that the committee submitted three names with Ifeanyi Okowa as the first choice, Wike as the second, and former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel as the third.

“So I picked number one,” he said, adding that his decision not to pick Wike was simply because he was the second choice on the list.

However, Atiku, who had run for the presidency a record six times, said he had no regrets about not picking Wike.

“No, not at all,” he said.

The New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, has suspended its canditate in the November 16, 2024 governorship election in Ondo State, Olugbenga Edema, and his running mate, Rotimi Adeyemi.

Edema and Adeyemi were suspended indefinitely along with a chieftain of the party, Isreal Ayeni, during the party’s State Working Committee (SWC) in Akure, the state capital.

According to the NNPP chairman in the state, Pastor Peter Olagookun, the suspension followed their purported involvement in anti-party activities as well as violation of the constitution of the party.

Olagookun further stressed that the Edema took the party to court without exhausting the party’s internal resolution mechanism.

The chairman of the party hinged the SWC decision on, “Suing in the name of the party without recourse to the appropriate stakeholders at both the state and national levels according to our party constitution”.

“Suing the party without exhausting the internal resolution mechanism as provided by the party’s constitution and involving oneself in anti-party activities.”

The outgoing President of the African Development Bank, AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina, has hinted at running for the position of Nigeria’s president.

The AfDB boss affirmed he is available for national service after his tenure at the bank concludes, specifically stating, “he will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including his own country, Nigeria.”

Adesina, also a former Minister of Agriculture during Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, made this known in an interview with Arise Television’s news host, Rufai Oseni.

According to report Adesina was first elected in 2015 to lead the continental funding institution, which was founded in 1964, and was re-elected President of the AfDB for a second term in 2020.

Adesina stated that the only thing that gives him satisfaction and happiness is seeing the lives of people transform and change.

When asked what’s next for him and whether he would run for president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Adesina answered:

“You know, one of the things that I’m grateful for as a Nigerian: many, many years ago, when I was in graduate school in Nigeria, even after that, I had an opportunity to obtain a US visa. I was given a great visa, and I could have obtained US citizenship.

“And I say, I didn’t want it, not because I don’t like America. My kids are Americans, and they were born there, but I remember telling a colleague of mine that this passport is a Nigerian passport, a green passport.

“I cannot and will never trade it for anything. It gives me a lot of grief wherever I go. You know, with family, my kids are probably asked to go right through, and I’m asked to stay behind. They ask you all kinds of funny questions, where were you born, when do you hope to die? Or any kind of question, just to make sure that you don’t get it.

“But I told this friend of mine that this part—God did not make a mistake in making me a Nigerian. He didn’t make a mistake in making me an African. I will live as a Nigerian, and I will walk by the special grace of God. But that passport, that green passport, will be respected just like everybody else in the world, right?

“You don’t beg for respect. You earn respect. So, when you’re talking about, what will I do after, you know, I started listening to you by telling you that I always believe in the providence of God, the grace of God. I don’t see myself as more than just an instrument in the hands of God to help people.

“Look, the only thing that makes me happy is nothing else than seeing the lives of people transform and change—that’s what gives me satisfaction. And so, as a result of that, you know, I will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including my own country.

“Yeah, you know, I remember one of those songs that I actually like in Nigeria is by my great singer, pop artist, Davido. And I think that song was, ‘I’m unavailable, dem no dey see me. I am unavailable.’

“So, but in the case where it comes to service of any kind, I would ask Davido to change that song—’I am available, they will see me.’

“I will. I’ll be available to serve in God’s hands for anything that God has in store for my life.”

A frontline Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant, Otunba Emmanuel Fayose, has expressed his resolve to contest the forthcoming governorship election in Ekiti State.

In a statement made available to reporters by his media office in Ado Ekiti, Fayose said his resolve to contest is borne out of his desire to rework Ekiti State to the path of growth and development.

“I am in the race to dislodge the Oyebanji-led government, and eventually, if I win, I will run an inclusive government that would steer Ekiti in the right direction,” Otunba Fayose wrote in the statement.

According to Otunba Fayose, the need for more emphasis and clarification regarding his desire to run resulted from the recent meeting between a former governor of the state, Mr Ayodele Fayose, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos.

At the well-publicised meeting, the former governor, who coincidentally is the elder brother to Otunba Fayose, told President Tinubu that he would be supporting the incumbent to return, which party members across Ekiti State considered as an anti-party activity.

Reacting to the development, Otunba Fayose said, “I read about the meeting in the newspapers like any other person, and I wish to state that the meeting has nothing to do with my aspiration.

“The meeting will not impact my aspiration because the former governor, my elder brother, is only exercising his democratic rights of freedom of choice. His choice and preferences will not and cannot negatively impact my bid as we are separate entities pursuing different goals.”

Otunba Fayose called on his supporters in the state to remain steadfast and resolute in their quest for positive change. He said in 2026, the PDP would return to power and begin rebuilding the state, describing the Oyebanji administration as a total disaster.