|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Presidential aides to President Bola Tinubu mocked former Vice President Atiku Abubakar following a massive political shake-up in Delta State that saw Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, his predecessor Ifeanyi Okowa, and the entire structure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday.
Tunde Rahman, one of the president’s aides, described the defection as a “shocker” for Atiku, whose 2023 running mate, Okowa, was among those who jumped ship.
“Things are really getting perilous and the future looks so bleak for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s coalition,” Rahman said in a post on X on Wednesday.
Read also: Why Oborevwori, others dumped PDP
“Today, he got his biggest shocker ever. His 2023 election running mate, former Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa, and Okowa’s successor, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, dumped the sinking PDP ship and hopped aboard the APC plane, and by inference, crossed over to the PBAT side.”
Rahman added, “The counting of PDP Governors crossing over to APC has begun. Isn’t Atiku’s coalition dead on arrival? As my people will say, the glimpses of a Saturday that will be good will manifest from Friday.”
Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser to the president on information and strategy, echoed similar sentiments, declaring Atiku’s political ambitions doomed.
“Atiku’s political future looks bleak. The coalition that he, El Rufai, Babachir, and new member Baba-Ahmed are cobbling together has disintegrated,” he said in reaction to Rahman’s post on Thursday.
“Potential allies, including former running mate Ifeanyi Okowa and defunct CPC members, are giving his leprous group a wide berth. Atiku is a loser again.”
The groundbreaking political shift in Delta was officially announced in Asaba by Senator James Manager shortly after a marathon six-hour meeting at the Government House on Wednesday.
“All PDP members in the state, including the governor, former Governor Okowa, the Speaker, the state party chairman, all the local government chairmen and others, have agreed to move to the APC,” Manager told journalists. “We cannot continue to be in a sinking boat.”
Aniagwu Charles, the Delta State commissioner for information, also confirmed the governor’s defection and the collective decision of PDP leaders and stakeholders in the state to align with the ruling APC.
