2027: I’ve no intention to become Atiku’s running mate — Gov Diri

The Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, has said that he has no intention of becoming former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s running mate in the 2027 presidential election.

A group calling itself “Diri Angels” had urged Atiku, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to consider Governor Diri as his running mate in 2027.

But reacting to this call, Governor Diri, through his spokesman Daniel Alabrah, described the group as “faceless” and dismissed the suggestion as a “Greek gift” from political opportunists. He urged his supporters to disregard the group entirely.

Diri asserted that the group’s aim was to sow discord and that their plot had failed. He emphasised that his political journey had always been guided by God, and he remained unmoved by any advocacy that contradicts his principles.

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Governor Diri reaffirmed his commitment to delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of Bayelsa State, a mandate they first entrusted to him in 2019 and reaffirmed on November 11, 2023. He urged residents in the state not to be distracted by what he called “political buccaneers” intent on causing confusion.