Ohaneze Youth Council warns Atiku that he will miss out on Igbo votes if he drops Okowa for Wike

OHANEZE Ndigbo has warned former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar that he risks missing out on Igbo votes if he bows to pressure and drops Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate in favour of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

Late last month, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elected Alhaji Abubakar as its flagbearer for next year's presidential election at its annual convention in Abuja. He has since picked Governor Okowa as his running mate, which has caused some consternation in the Wike camp, as some party members expected him to be selected.

Governor Wike's team is thought to feel a sense of entitlement, particularly as he came second to Alhaji Abubakar in the party primaries. Already. several party leaders, including the Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State and former Plateau State governor Jonah Jang, have criticised the choice of Governor Okowa as the party’s vice presidential candidate.

Apparently, last Friday, Governor Wike snubbed a former minister of police affairs and Atiku ally, Adamu Waziri, who attempted to initiate peace talks with him in Turkey. Speaking for the Wike camp, Confidence Deko, the chairman of Gokana Local Government Area in Rivers State, said his principal did not deserve the treatment he got from  Atiku and the PDP.

With the Wike camp showing no signs of sheathing its sword, Ohaneze, the umbrella body of all Igbos, has warned the PDP that it will not get any Igbo votes if the Anioman Governor Okowa is dropped. Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, the president of the Ohaneze Youth Council (OYC), said if Atiku listens to them and drops Okowa, he does it as his peril.

In a joint statement signed by Mazi Nnabuike and the OYC secretary Comrade Obinna Achionye, they said any attempt to replace Governor Okowa would backfire. According to the OYC, the southeast would not accept to lose out completely in the scheme of things, having lost the opportunity to produce the presidential candidate of either the PDP or the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Their statement read: “There is no need to repeat that we expected both the PDP and the APC to zone their presidential tickets to the southeast but that did not happen. Although this has been overtaken by events, the only consolation we have is the choice of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, considering that Okowa is a true Igbo son.

“Having said this, how could anyone wake up and think of replacing Okowa with Wike? As much as we know that Atiku reserves the right to choose whoever he wills as his running mate, we also have the right to vote according to our desire.

“That desire is clear - the PDP would not get one vote from Igboland should they field Wike, because this is a man who disowned Ndigbo. He said he is not one of us and this is payback time, we also do not know him. Should the PDP make the mistake of pairing him with Atiku, the PDP will be roundly rejected during the presidential election.”

In addition, the OYC added that with the new Electoral Act, those who constituted themselves into emperors are going to be disgraced during the polls. They pointed out that the time for bogus fake results is over, so nobody should be deceived.