I don't believe him about that at all because there was no obvious candidate with Easley's imprimatur running against Nifong in the primary. It wouldn't be Freda Black because she was in the DA's office at the time Easley appointed Nifong, so he just would have appointed her. It wasn't that black lawyer twirp - he was a loser and a nobody. And that's all there were in the primary.
Easley's full of BS. But what's important is that his remarks signaled that Nifong has nowhere to hide.
The reasoning behind appointing Nifong may have been to lessen Freda Black's electability.