Obi: Atiku Must Apologize to South East Governors - Abia State Govt

The Abia state government has reacted to the political drama currently going on in the South East over Atiku’s failure to consult the leaders before picking former governor of Anambra State, Chief Peter Obi as his running mate.

In a statement made available to Igbere TV by Abia state Commissioner of information, John Okiyi, noted that Atiku must apologize to South East Governors for failing to consult them before picking his running mate.

The statement reads in full ;

Obi is not the issue
I know HE Peter Obi is well loved and respected across the south east. He has visited Abia, for instance, on many occasions and was well received. Based on what I know, I doubt that Governor Umahi and others have issues with his becoming Atiku’s running mate.
Okwute is super qualified.

I also personally believe the consultation issue is not of Obi’s making. Atiku should be blamed and he also should remedy the situation.
Politics is a complex game full of noise and intrigues that may not make sense to straight line analysts and analysis such as we have been reading since Governor Umahi signaled the need for stakeholders to be consulted, or simply put, taken into confidence before announcement.
In his press statement, Governor Umahi never attacked the candidacy of Peter Obi. He did not ask for him to be replaced as VP candidate and never said he was unfit for the position. The video coming from SE PDP stakeholders also did not show where they attacked Obi’a suitability for the position.

Umahi talked about the announcement process only.
Every presidential candidate retains the right to choose his running mate. So there is nothing wrong with Atiku choosing his own.
Yet almost all past presidential candidates made a play of consulting for a reason: giving stakeholders a sense of ownership and importance.
Consultation does not necessarily change who you have personally vetted and decided on. It simply helps to make it look like a collective decision.

It is my personal position that once Atiku made up his mind to select Peter Obi, he should have played the game:
1. Ask for nominations from South East PDP stakeholders and get one of his allies to ensure that Peter Obi’s name is added to the list. He will then inform the stakeholders that he has chosen one of their nominees and announce Peter Obi.

2. Call the stakeholders together and inform them he has decided on Obi and then announce him. He can make a play of explaining why he chose Obi to get their buy in before announcing.

Leadership is about working with people to achieve goals and you necessarily need to carry people along to achieve leadership goals.
There are things to note about the noise on Obi’s selection.
Nobody among the stakeholders has publicly said Obi is not a good choice. Every other noise is speculative or private chatter aka rumors.
Governor Umahi leads the South East Governors forum while Ike Ekweremadu leads the National Assembly caucus of the South East. The two of them are the most important SE office holders and they don’t necessarily voice personal opinions.

Attacking Umahi and Ekweremadu is wrong. Especially knowing that their colleagues are yet to disown their position on the need for consultation, aka respect.

Respect in politics is very important to politicians and they also hide under that to generate necessary leverage for achieving group objectives. Allow Umahi, Ekweremadu and co to manage the situation and get necessary leverage for Ndigbo.
Maka echi.

Same you will ask them tomorrow what they discussed with Atiku before supporting him. I know for a fact that all South East states voted for Atiku during the PDP convention and I also know that his would-be Deputy will ultimately not be in a position to negotiate with him on behalf of Ndigbo.

Politics nwere stages.
Meanwhile, there are benefits from the ongoing political noise in the east that you may not have observed. Folks from other parts of Nigeria are rallying round Obi because of the false notion that his people are not supporting him.

In our brand of politics in Nigeria, that is a good sign.
Finally, Atiku holds the key to fixing what he broke. Let him meet with the SE PDP stakeholders and simply listen to them, apologize and insist that he has already chosen Obi and can’t reverse that without looking bad as a leader. They will ultimately shake hands, take pictures and issue a press statement that all issues have been resolved.
If in the alternative he listens to Facebook noise he will lose and regret later. The same stakeholders asking to be carried along are actually the people who mobilize voters to polling units and indeed spend necessary resources to support a presidential candidate. He needs them more than they need him and he must now show that he can navigate the stormy waters of south east and Nigeria politics when push comes to shove.

In all these, Igbo folks at social media should calm down please. Don’t destroy Umahi, Ekweremadu and others because you think you like Peter Obi more than them.
Take my hint: Peter Obi remains Atiku’s running mate and that is not going to change.
Hapu Ndi Ishi anyi ka ha kpa ya akpa….maka ihe O gwara O. Ugwu bu nkwayi nkwayi nwami muo ibe ya pari.
JOK