Atiku Abubakar
Ambassador Desmond Akawor, the former chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, has said that the party lost the 2023 presidential elections because of its choice of candidate.
He stated that when Atiku visited the state during his campaign rounds, he openly told him that the Rivers State chapter of the party was not happy with the zoning arrangement.
Akawor disclosed this while speaking with Punch.
He insisted that the PDP’s mistake in fielding Atiku as its flag bearer is why it lost the election.
The PDP chieftain argued that the party must return to the root of the problem to regain its bearing.
According to him, “My advice to them is that if you make a mistake in your journey, go back to the junction where you made the mistake and take your bearing. They made a mistake. When Wazirin Adamawa came here when he was going around, it is on tape, after his brief to us, I openly told him I said, ‘Sir, I know you very well, I worked under you as a minister and you did well in the economic reform under then President Olusegun Obasanjo. Telecommunication, this, this, this…you did very well, sir.
“But in our party today, there is a problem. The problem is that we in Rivers State, I’m speaking on behalf of Rivers people. We are not happy that the party has jettisoned our zoning system.’ Dino Melaye stood up to defend. I remembered his defence, but I have made my point. Where did it land us?
You see where we are now. So the party must go back to the junction and get its bearing. That’s the only advice I have for the party at national level.
“We voted for a Southern President because that’s what we believed in and I told Waziri Adamawa when he came here to this party secretariat that we are not happy that the party has jettisoned the zoning system.”
