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The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Atiku Abubakar has inaugurated a committee tasked with recommending a vice presidential candidate ahead of the 2023 general election.
The successful candidate will be presented to Atiku Abubakar on or before Monday according to sources available to Pointblanknews.com.
Pointblanknews.com gathered that the committee which consists of top party leaders and a select member of the Board of Trustees are however looking towards the South-east and South South zone.
Atiku recently emerged as the PDP’s flagbearer at a keenly contested primaries where he defeated his closest rival Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State.
By the Independent National Electoral Commission’s guidelines, the political parties must submit their names of their candidates and running mate on or before June 9th.
A member of the committee who spoke with our correspondent said that as at Wednesday, the committee are already pitched between the choice of Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and the Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa.
According to the source, “His Excellency, Governor Okowa appears to be favourably disposed to the committee but there are serious objections from some political leaders from Delta State including two former governors, James Ibori and Emmanuel Ude Uduaghan. Another elder statesman and Ijaw leader has also warned Atiku of the danger of picking Okowa as running mate.
“But the committee is looking beyond the objections because the governor has played major stabilising role for the party during the crisis period. He is also known as a major supporter of Atiku campaign where he not only delivered the Delta delegates votes but also made sure that the South South was divided in favour of Atiku.
“The committee also considered his unassuming personality. He is seen as someone who will be a team player and so one whose political ambition can be subsumed. As a former senator and governor, Okowa may just be contended with the role of a vice president.”
On Ugwuanyi’s candidature the source also said that the governor’s profile as a party loyalists is equally intimidating.
“The Enugu governor in 2019 was the only governor in the South East to ensure that Atiku won comprehensively and he made sure that the state is and still remains 100 percent PDP. In his 7 years as the governor, the state witnessed absolute peace where even the main opposition in the state, APC all rallied around him.
“Atiku has in his last two outings choose running mates from the South East. Recall that he once ran with Senator Ben Obi and recently with Peter Obi. He knew the importance of South East votes and the committee are not willing to toy with sensitive nature of Southeast politics. A zone that has rejected APC is not a zone that can be toyed with.”
Pointblanknews.com reported that
the PDP BoT chairman, Walid Jibrin, said that the National Working Committee, Board of Trustees, and the standard-bearer Atiku Abubakar, will jointly work to produce a running mate for the presidential candidate of the party.
Other aspirants being considered are Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom.
Meanwhile, INEC said that it would shut down the candidates’ nomination portal on June 17 for the presidential and National Assembly party flag bearers for the 2023 general elections.