Ohanaeze cautions Atiku to drop Okowa and ignore the Igbo vote.

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, has been warned against any plans to remove Governor Ifeanyi Okowa from his ticket.

There are rumors that Atiku is under pressure from governors to remove Okowa and replace him with Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State.

The same demand is reportedly being made by Wike’s supporters as the only means of fostering harmony inside the party.

However, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, OYC, said Atiku should abandon Okowa at his own risk in a statement made available to MINIECHAT on Tuesday.

Any attempt to remove Okowa would fail, according to a statement signed by the National President of OYC, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, and the Secretary, Comrade Obinna Achionye.

The South-East will not agree to fully lose out in the grand scheme of things, according to the apex Igbo group, having missed the chance to produce either the PDP or the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate.

It is unnecessary to reiterate that we anticipated that the South-East would receive presidential tickets from both the PDP and the APC, but that did not occur.

“Even if this has been overtaken by events, the only solace we have is that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar chose Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running partner because Okowa is a true Igbo son.

“Having stated that, how could anyone wake up and consider appointing Wike to replace Okowa? We have the freedom to cast our votes anyway we like, even if we are aware that Atiku reserves the right to select anybody he pleases as his running partner.

The OYC continued, “Those who constituted themselves into emperors will be embarrassed during the polls with the new Electoral Act. Nobody should be misled because the era of phony, bogus results is finished.

And that goal is quite clear: If the PDP nominated Wike, there would not be a single vote from Igbo territory, as Wike has forsaken Ndigbo. He claimed to not be one of us and that now is the moment for retaliation; we are also unfamiliar with him. The Ohanaeze youths warned that the PDP would face a resounding defeat in the upcoming presidential election if they made the mistake of partnering him with Atiku.

Miniechat

See author's posts