Atiku Has No Constitutional Power To Substitute Okowa – Group

Vanguard for Transparent Leadership and Democracy (VATLAD) has said it is too late for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to substitute Governor lfeanyi Okowa with aggrieved Governor Nyesom Wike as his running mate.

They added that no amount of pressure or threat from supporters can change the situation.

This may not be unconnected to the conditions given by loyalists of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, for the resolution of the crisis in the party.

Supporters of the governor were said to have advised that it was not too late for Atiku to revisit the issue of his running mate by dropping Governor Okowa, whom he picked last month.

But national president of VATLAD, Comrade Emmanuel Igbini, said Atiku can never and has no constitutional power to substitute Okowa, restating that by provision of section 187 of 1999 Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended, only Governor Okowa can voluntarily withdraw as PDP 2023 vice presidential candidate.

“At all times, I state the whole truth even though I am a strong supporter of my workaholic Governor Wike and not a friend of Governor Okowa. Conscience is an open wound only moral truth can heal it” Igbini stated.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the PDP’s Board of Trustees, Senator Walid Jibrin, said the party had set up a nine-member committee to beg Wike.