Barring any last minute changes, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Selection Committee, saddled with the responsibility of recommending a running mate for the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has settled for Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
The committee, according to Vanguard, recommended Wike after 16 of the 19 members, who attended the meeting at the PDP National Secretariat, on Tuesday, voted in favour of the Rivers State Governor.
“The panel initially trimmed the list to three — Nyesom Wike, Ifeanyi Okowa, and Udom Emmanuel. When the names were subjected to further scrutiny and put to vote, 16 out of 19 voted in Wike’s favour. With his track record of loyalty to the party and performance at our just-concluded presidential primaries, most of us felt this is the right thing to do,” the medium quoted a source as saying.
Another party source said that the party equally took a cue from the United States where, “Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris as running mate after he defeated her in the Democratic Party presidential primary in a bid to unite the party.”
Wike scored 237 votes against the 371 votes pollen by Atiku at the PDP presidential primary.
However, the source said the final decision on the eventual running mate remains the prerogative of Atiku, who is currently out of the country.
Earlier in his remarks, the PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, expressed confidence that the party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, will on or before Friday, present a running mate Nigerians will relate well with and vote into office.
