Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim has denied opposing the choice of Peter Obi as the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 election.
Anyim also said he actually supported the selection of the former Governor of Anambra State as the running mate to the party’s flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar.
The former Senate President was reacting to a statement made by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers during a media chat in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
Wike stated that Anyim, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi, and a few other South East leaders reportedly fought him over Obi’s emergence.
In a statement on Thursday, Anyim said he never discussed the choice of Obi as the PDP vice presidential candidate with Wike at any time, stressing that maybe the Rivers governor was talking about another person.
The SGF said Wike was wrong to have named him among those who had issues with the process of Obi’s selection. He added that he did not attend the PDP presidential primaries held in Port-Harcourt in 2019.
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.”
