PDP chieftain: Obasanjo picked Obi as condition to support Atiku in 2019

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Anthony Ehilebo, has disclosed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo picked the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, as the running mate of the PDP presidential standard-bearer, Atiku Abubakar, in the 2019 general election.

Ehilebo said Obasanjo recommended Obi as Atiku’s running mate as a condition to support the former Vice President in 2019.

This is coming amidst the reactions that trailed the endorsement of Obi by the former President for the 2023 presidency.

Obasanjo, in a letter addressed to Nigerian youths on Sunday, January 1, said Obi has an edge when “one compares their character, antecedent, their understanding, knowledge, discipline, and vitality that they can bring to bear and the great efforts required to stay focused on the job particularly looking at where the country is today and with the experience on the job that I personally had.”

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He also described the former governor of Anambra State as “a needle with thread attached to it from North and South and he may not get lost.”

However, Ehilebo, a member of the Strategic Communications Directorate of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, while speaking on Channels Television’s programme, Sunrise Daily, on Monday, stated that Obasanjo should have remained an elder statesman and prioritise experience and capacity over endorsing Obi ahead of the 2023 general election.

He said: “In 2019, he supported our candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, but I’ll tell you a backstory that people hardly know. People don’t even know that he was the one that recommended his present candidate of choice to Atiku Abubakar as a condition for supporting him in 2019.

“That was the plan: ‘have these two people run on the platform so that you (Atiku) can mentor him and by the time he comes of age, he’ll be able to run for president.”

Atiku, who was Obasanjo’s vice between 1999 and 2007, had vied for the number one seat in 2007, 2011, and 2019.

The Star