‘We were never consulted'' - South-East leaders react to Peter Obi's emergence as Atiku's running mate

South-East leaders and governors today said the PDP presidential candidate in the 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar, did not consult them before picking one of their sons, Peter Obi, as his running mate. Atiku announced Peter Obi as his running mate yesterday October 12th.

Rising from a meeting today, the South East leaders say they were sidelined by Atiku. Speaking on behalf of the leaders, Ebonyi state governor, Dave Umahi, said the leaders would however support anyone picked from the region, adding they were not aware of Obi's candidacy.

“We just finished our meeting and we want to use the opportunity to congratulate our presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for his very well deserved victory (at) our very transparent and fair primaries that we just finished in Port Harcourt, Rivers state. It is our prayer that God will sustain him and lead him and take him to that destination that PDP gave him our ticket. We have met because of what we saw in the social media over the issue of vice-presidential candidate. In as much as we will never be against anybody chosen from south-east to be the presidential running mate to our PDP candidate but we are shocked and surprised that social media starts carrying such insinuation that the leaders of south-east are not aware that our candidate has chosen a candidate.

“If anything is the truth in the social media assertion, the leaders of south-east were never consulted neither are we aware. However, his excellency Atiku Abubakar has sent a message to the leaders of south-east that he’s out of the country today on a short visit and as soon as he comes back, he will be coming down to the south-east to meet with the south-east leaders for a very deep and cordial discussion and relationship''he said