Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, has denied opposing Peter Obi’s selection as the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) vice presidential candidate in the 2019 election.
Anyim also stated that he supported the choice of the former Anambra State Governor as the party’s flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar.
The former Senate President was responding to a statement made by Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike during a media conference in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
Wike claimed that Anyim, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Ebonyi Governor Dave Umahi, and a few other South East leaders fought him over Obi’s election.
Anyim said in a statement on Thursday that he never discussed the choice of Obi as the PDP vice presidential candidate with Wike at any time, stressing that the Rivers governor could have been referring to someone else.
Wike, according to the SGF, was incorrect in including him among those who had concerns about Obi’s selection process. He also stated that he did not attend the 2019 PDP presidential primaries in Port-Harcourt.
He said:
My attention has been drawn to a statement by Gov. Wike during his media chat on 22nd of March, 2023.
In a response to a claim that he came after Gov. Peter Obi during the 2023 presidential election, Gov. Wike recounted how he made it possible for Gov. Peter Obi to be PDP Vice Presidential Candidate in 2019 and that Gov. Peter Obi was not appreciative.
In Gov. Wike’s words, “I was fought by people like Ike Ekweremadu, Gov. Dave Umahi, and Pius Anyim.
But reading it on Page 26 of Daily Sun of today 23 March 2023 confirms to me that I may be the one referred to, hence the need to put the records straight.
That after Gov. Peter Obi’s nomination as running mate raised some dust in the South East, PDP Governors and Party leaders from the South East met on the matter in Sen. Ekweremadu’s home in Enugu. I was not at that meeting”
Thereafter, the Presidential Candidate, H/E Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, held a town hall meeting with PDP leaders from the South East at Nike Lake hotel Enugu. I did not also attend that meeting
I did not know how Gov. Peter Obi emerged as PDP Vice Presidential Candidate and I never cared to ask but maintained a stand that the reaction that followed his nomination would also have happened to any other person from the South East.
Gov. Wike may need to confirm from Gov. Peter that from the beginning to the end of 2019 elections, he enjoyed my encouragement and goodwill.
The purpose of this clarification is to keep the records straight and to reconfirm to Gov. Wike that he is mistaken if the Pius Anyim he referred to is my humble self.
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