2023: Why Peter Obi Hid His Defection Plan From Atiku – Obi Ally

The reason the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi failed to inform the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar of his defection plan from the party has emerged.

A close ally of the former governor of Anambra State said Obi failed to inform Atiku of his plan after sources informed him that Atiku had no plan to pick his running mate from the South-East.

The ally who spoke with The Guardian on condition of anonymity said they got information that the former vice president planted a candidate in one of the thriving young parties before the presidential primary of PDP.

According to the source, Atiku saw the strength in the younger parties, with the experience of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) in 2019, which made a good impression at the poll.

The source said, “You know Kingsley Moghalu did not win in 2019, but he made a serious impact on the youth population. The former Vice President believed that with such a young charismatic politician in the race it would create some problems for him.

“Even before the PDP national convention, Atiku was sure that he would pick the party’s presidential ticket again. That was why he talked about the right of the first refusal and called the bluff of northern elders that wanted to broker consensus.

“It became clear to us that since PDP was not forthcoming on the issue of zoning the Presidency to the South, as well as the bond among incumbent state governors, we needed to explore other options and ensure that we did not give Atiku any impression about our plans.”

According to the ally of the LP presidential candidate, Obi had concluded his plan to dump PDP on June 27.

He said, “With the resignation officially sealed, Obi now travelled to the United Kingdom briefly. After the visit to 10 Downing Street, he came back and declared officially for LP on June 27. It was actually on July 1, that His Excellency informed the former Vice President that he had moved on, that is it. By that time the LP presidential primary had been concluded.”

Recall that Atiku during a recent interview claimed that Obi informed him about his plan to dump the PDP days after his defection, a claim which was confirmed by Obi.