2023 election: It’s difficult for a miracle to happen for Peter Obi to win, says Atiku

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar said it is difficult for a miracle to happen for Labour Party candidate Peter Obi to win the 2023 presidential election.

Atiku, a former vice president, during an interview on Arise TV, said he is not expecting Peter Obi and Labour Party to pull off a surprise in the next general elections.

READ ALSO: Peter Obi is Labour Party presidential candidate

The PDP candidate dismissed political calculations that Obi, a former Anambra State governor, will divide votes of his party.

Atiku noted that the political status of the Labour Party does not agree with those calculations, citing instances from the just concluded governorship election in Osun and that the party does not have governors, members of the national assembly and state assemblies.

“I really don’t expect the Labour Party to take as many votes from the PDP as people are suggesting,” he said.

“We could have seen it in the last election in Osun state. What is the performance of the Labour Party?

“This is a party that doesn’t have a governor, doesn’t have members of the national assembly, doesn’t have state assembly members, and politics in this country depends on the structures you have at the various levels — at the local government level, at the state level, and at the national level.”

READ ALSO: NNPP, Labour Party plan merger for Peter Obi, Kwankwaso presidential ticket

Atiku said 90 percent of people in the north are not social media, insinuating that it will limit the chances of the LP to win the 2023 presidential election.

“So, it is very difficult to expect a miracle to happen, simply because Peter Obi is in the Labour Party. After all, they were saying through social media, they had more than one million votes in Osun state,” he said.

“But how many votes turned for the Labour Party? And then again, mark you, you’re talking about social media. In the north, 90 percent of our people are not tuned to social media.”

New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) presidential candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso, who had a failed merger negotiation with Labour Party had argued that northern voters will not vote for Obi.

READ ALSO: NNPP, Labour Patry merger fail as Kwankwaso names running mate

“The implication is if you put somebody from the south-east, unfortunately, there are many issues in the south-east,” Kwankwaso said on Channels Television.

“You see, northern voters are the worst hit by this country’s maladministration issue. Even under that circumstance, a northern voter also believes that he is better as a one united Nigeria.”

Obi, however, refuted the claims, saying he has a national structure in young people across the country.