The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) on Thursday, endorsed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta.
The CUPP from the 11 States of the South-South and South-East Geopolitical zones stated this in a communiqué read by its Spokesman, Prince Henry Eze, in Asaba, Delta.
The group led by its zonal Chairman, Mr Ken Ikeh, said that adopting the Atiku-Okowa ticket was in line with the vision of the CUPP founding fathers.
He said that the state of the nation has forced the CUPP in the 11 states in the South-South and South-East, to scrutinize the Presidential candidates of the political parties for the 2023 general elections.
"This is with a view to adopting one of them as a consensus presidential candidate in line with the vision of CUPP founding fathers.
"The CUPP, arising from a critical assessment meeting, therefore gladly endorsed the candidacy of Atiku Abubakar- Ifeanyi Okowa joint ticket as our consensus choice for the 2023 presidential election.
" This geopolitical zone of Nigeria has always joined the rest of the country to advocate for restructuring of this economy.
"Atiku is an advocate of restructuring and has promised to champion devolution of power to federating states.
"Atiku, having been the Vice President of Nigeria is the most experienced of all the presidential candidates and besides, his joint ticket with Okowa satisfies the criteria of a Muslim-Christian ticket.
"Atiku's choice of Okowa as running mate is an indication that the PDP presidential candidate cares for the Igbo people.
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"In 1999, Atiku demonstrated his preference by choosing his running mate from the South-East. Both Atiku and Okowa are proven and tested unifiers,"he said.
"In view of Atiku's strong view on restructuring, education, his experience and maturity in politics, the CUPP in the zone believe he is the best among the presidential candidates.
"We urge all political stakeholders, opinion leaders and elders of the geopolitical zone and all Nigerians of good conscience to support Atiku," he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the endorsement came a few days after the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Rally, in Asaba.
The group formed in July 2018, is an alliance of 40 Political Parties including the PDP, Social Democratic Party (SDP), and Labour Party (LP) formed with the sole aim of taking power from the ruling APC in 2019.
