Atiku Abubakar
There are indications that presidential candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has narrowed his search
for a running mate to the South East geo-political region.
Leadership gathered yesterday that the search for the party’s vice
president’s slot has further been narrowed to Enugu and Abia States in
the zone.
The PDP has till October 18 to submit the names of its presidential
candidate and his running mate to the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) in line with the commission’s timetable.
A PDP source who is privy to the decision at a meeting of the South
East caucus of the party held in the build up to the presidential
primaries said the position was further narrowed to the two South East
states.
The source added that deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu;
former minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Senator Enyinnaya
Abaribe were mentioned during the meeting. The space was also open to
persons from other state in the zone, with former Anambra State
governor, Peter Obi, tipped as a possible choice in the event where
those considered from the two states are rejected.
It was learnt the former vice president was open to work with the
former minister of finance who has represented Abia State in the past
but, stakeholders from the state opposed his choice.
A move to replace the minister with the incumbent governor was also resisted by “other governors and party chieftains at the meeting who said he was not qualified for the position.
“The Enugu people put forward a serving Senator (Ekweremadu),
while the name of a serving senator from Abia (Abaribe) was also
considered. But so far, no name has been adopted. These are just names
that he was presented with. He has to submit the names today.”
It was also gathered that the South West has also launched a lobby
for the position on grounds that it would serve as compensation for the
way the region was sidelined during the national chairmanship contest
last year, which went to the South South.
Ohanaeze Gives Conditions For Support
Meanwhile, Ohanaeze Ndigbo yesterday insisted that only a running
mate from the South East will be a suitable pair for PDP to win the 2019
presidential election in the zone.
Reacting to the victory of former Vice President Atiku, Ohaneze
Youth Council Worldwide led by Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro said Atiku is
the right man for the job.
The youth wing of socio-cultural group warned however that Ndigbo
would work against PDP if Atiku fails to pick his running mate from the
Igbo extraction. Isiguzoro said, “Majority of Igbos believes in
Restructuring and majority of Igbo youths wants referendum because of
the economic hardship in the country.
We believe that Atiku campaign for restructuring will win the
hearts of Nigerians and a possible pair of running mate from South East
will quell the quest for referendum by agitators and Igbo Youths.
“We insists that any betrayal of denying Ndigbo the vice
presidential slot of PDP will make Ndigbo dump PDP in the presidential
election, but vote PDP in the gubernatorial elections in Abia, Ebonyi
and Enugu”,.
The group further said that the zone has better personalities like
Peter Obi, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and Senator
Enyinnaya Abaribe who are fit for the vice presidential job. The group
warned that it will work against the PDP by mobilising youths in the
zone to vote for another party if Atiku fails to pick his running mate
from the South East.
Atiku on Sunday defeated 11 other aspirants to pick the party’s
ticket. He is main challenger to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of
the All Progressive Congress (APC) in next year’s presidential
election. Meanwhile, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP),
the umbrella body of over 40 opposition political parties, has
congratulated the PDP and all other coalition parties in the grand
Alliance for their successful primaries.
Spokesperson of CUPP, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, in a statement said, “The
end of the primary process of the individual parties today marks the
beginning of the main work of the CUPP, which is to select a consensus
candidate from the over 15 presidential candidates that have emerged
from parties that are members of the CUPP grand alliance.
“The process that will lead to the emergence of the grand
coalition candidate of the CUPP will start in earnest this week. Sending
the incompetent President Buhari-led APC government to the political
dustbin of landslide electoral defeat is a task that Nigerians are
eagerly waiting to accomplish with the CUPP come 2019”.