By Chinelo Obogo
Former presidential spokesperson Dr. Doyin Okupe, has revealed that he submitted a withdrawal letter as the running mate to Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.
Okupe made a post on his Twitter handle, saying that he submitted a withdrawal letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday afternoon and that the national chairman of LP would soon announce whom Mr. Obi’s running mate would be.
“This afternoon, I submitted my withdrawal letter from the position of the Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party to INEC. A replacement will be announced by the national chairman of the party shortly. I feel greatly blessed to have been part of the foundation of success for the LP,” he tweeted.
The former governor of Anambra State, had previously submitted Okupe’s name to the electoral commission as his running mate to beat the June 17 deadline set by INEC.
Okupe had earlier revealed that said his name has been submitted to INEC in Obi’s form but like the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu, he might be replaced later.
“INEC allows you to present a candidate and later on, if you want to substitute, you may do so, if necessary. But if it’s not necessary, you may as well continue. So the present situation is that we believe that this Labour Party government that is essentially going to be about young Nigerians.
“Those of us who have been part of our sordid past must be prepared to pay the sacrifice, even the personal sacrifice, of allowing a situation we can lift our youths to positions of power and authority,” he said.