Why Many Igbo Leaders Protest Peter Obi As Atiku’s Running Mate

Why Many Igbo Leaders Will Continue To Protest Against Atiku’s Choice Of Peter Obi As His Running Mate

An Nnewi businessman once described an original motor spare parts as those ones that upon sales, give him maximum profit. The shrewd businessman asked, “what do I gain from stocking genuine spare parts that would neither be sold off faster nor return reasonable profit?”

The author, Anayo Nwosu

Being that most politicians from Igbo origin see politics as business and not service to their constituencies, one would understand why majority of them have been annoyed by the decision of Atiku Abubakar of PDP to choose Peter Obi as his running mate.

The annoyance is even more because of the prospects that Atiku might defeat Buhari in the coming presidential election.

Atiku’s choice of Peter Obi has created more than the following problems:

1. The loss of the opportunity to manage the Southeast Presidential Elections Campaign Fund.

With Peter Obi on the ticket, many of the Igbo politicians would not be allowed to control the money flow for electioneering campaigns and election winning activities.

They know Peter Obi as aka gum or a tight-fisted man.

2. The choice Peter Obi has technically retired many Igbo politicians with presidential ambitions.

It is most likely that Atiku would hand over the presidency after one or two terms to his Vice hence putting paid to the ambitions of many Southeast politicians with presidential ambitions.

It will take a minimum four decades for an Igbo man to be president after Obi’s 8-years tenor. By the time it would be the turn of Igbo president after Obi, the current generation of politicians would have all died with their presidential dreams.

Each of those Igbo politicians protesting against the manner Atiku picked his Vice has a presidential ambition.

They can’t even hide it. Each of them had wished that Atiku picked either him or someone from the Southwest.

If Atiku had picked someone else from Southwest as a VP instead of an Igbo, the aggrieved Southeast politicians believe that all Igbo aspirants would then be on a level playing field whenever Atiku finishes his tenor.

Many Igbos just as national and international pundits expect Atiku to win the presidency in 2019 and the fact that Peter Obi could succeed him is not good news for his brothers with presidential aspirations and career election contractors plus money sharers.

Do not mind all those groups with strange names demonstrating everywhere and demonizing Peter Obi, demanding that Atiku drops him.

They are being sponsored by aggrieved and ambitious Igbo politicians who believe that Peter Obi, a new comer in PDP, has snatched sleep away from their eyes.

Anayo Nwosu is a public affairs commenatator.

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