Former presidential candidate, Reno Omokri has said that presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, could have won the election if had taken the “abnormal step” of making Nyesom Wike his running mate.
Recall that Atiku beat Wike to the presidential ticket of the PDP.
Subsequently, he appointed then-Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate, a position Wike reportedly desired.
Atiku’s PDP went on to lose in Rivers State and Wike was appointed into President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
In an X post, Omokri said, “The biggest mistake we made in the PDP during the #NigerianElections2023 was not giving Wike the vice Presidential slot of our party.
“By how many votes did we lose to the APC? Less than two million. If we had a running mate like Wike, we would have gotten that collectively from Rivers, Oyo, Abia, Enugu, and Benue with the G-5.
“In politics, you do not do what you like to do. You do what you have to do. Under normal circumstances, an alpha personality like Wike, would be too assertive to be a follower.
“I would not even support it if all things were equal. Such a personality type is better suited for President and may be a headache to any President he deputises for.
“But the last election was not normal. And all things were certainly not equal. Not at all! So we should have taken some abnormal steps.
“Tinubu understood the game better than us. Is a Muslim-Muslim ticket normal? No. But a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do!”
