It was gathered that Atiku set aside pre-scheduled meetings and appointments in Morocco and the United Kingdom, to be in Nigeria to participate in his party’s governorship grand rally in Osogbo, Osun State on Thursday.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, arrived in Abuja in the earlier hours of Thursday.
It was gathered that Atiku set aside pre-scheduled meetings and appointments in Morocco and the United Kingdom, to be in Nigeria to participate in his party’s governorship grand rally in Osogbo, Osun State on Thursday.
Atiku had left for the US after choosing the governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate and amid the controversy generated by the choice.
Some party chieftains, including Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State and former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, have criticised the way Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State was treated in the run-up to the emergence of Okowa as Atiku’s running mate.
Atiku failed to attend the rally of the party in Ekiti State ahead of the governorship election that was held on June 18, 2022. The PDP lost the election, coming third in the contest.
Many stakeholders in the PDP, including former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; party chairman, Iyorchia Ayu; Atiku’s running mate and governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, have arrived in Osun for the campaign.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu knocked the opposition parties challenging his party in the July 16 governorship election in Osun, including the PDP and the Labour Party (LP), saying they will labour in vain till they die.