The race for the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party ((PDP) may have slowly started as the party’s 2019 candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar visited Governor Nyesom Wike in Port-Harcourt on Tuesday.
Alhaja Atiku Abubakar was in the Rivers State capital to convince Gov. Wike to support his candidature.
The Rivers governor is a known ally of Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, even as he is believed to have strongly backed his Sokoto State colleague for the PDP’s presidential ticket though he lost to Atiku at the keenly contested primary held in his state.
Sources say Tambuwal’s camp is in disarray as Wike’s bullish support saw him coming second in a crowded field of big names in PDP’s last Primary.
Atiku who flew into Port-Harcourt from Yola, where he has been holed up for a couple of weeks is buoyed by the new thinking in the PDP that the presidency should not return to the North West after eight years of the Buhari Administration. The mood in the party is for the PDP to come up with a well-respected National Chairman from the South West, while a popular candidate from either the North East or North Central is paired up with a strong southern deputy.
Speculations have it that the former Vice-President would have to contend with Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed in his geo-political zone, while the immediate past Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki from the North-Central is said to be interested in the party’s ticket. This is even as other presidential hopefuls who ran for the party’s ticket, like former Kano Governor, Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso and former Gombe State governor, Dr. Ibrahim Dankwambo are reportedly still interested in running.
Atiku was accompanied on the trip to Port-Harcourt by Senator Dino Melaye and Senator Abdul Ningi. Melaye shared pictures from the visit on his official Facebook page.