Atiku finally picks running mate

<p><strong><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">Atiku Abubakar<&sol;a>&comma; the presidential candidate of the <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;nh">Peoples Democratic Party &lpar;PDP&rpar;<&sol;a>&comma; has finally picked a running mate and will present his choice to the public this afternoon&comma; Thursday&comma; June 16&comma; in Abuja&comma; a report by <em>Premium Times<&sol;em> has stated&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The newspaper stated that tose close to his campaign said the announcement would be made at noon &lpar;12 pm&rpar; and the nominee will thereafter be screened by a committee already empanelled for that purpose&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This follows the conclusion Wednesday night of a series of meetings between the candidate and the hierarchy of the party on the issue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Okowa is reportedly the final choice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to <em>Premium Times<&sol;em>&comma; Delta State Governor&comma; Ifeanyi Okowa&comma; was as of Thursday morning the final choice of Atiku&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Barring any last-minute change of plans&comma; Mr Okowa would be the nominee to be unveiled this morning&comma;”<&sol;strong> <&sol;em>a reliable campaign insider familiar with the matter told was quoted as saying&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;But as you know even a minute is a long time in politics&period;” <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Paul Ibe&comma; a spokesperson for the Atiku Media Office&comma; declined comment on the identity of the vice-presidential nominee&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said the official announcement should be awaited&period;<em><strong> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;What I can say is that the candidate &lpar;Atiku&rpar; is anxious to conclude this process of picking a running mate so we can move to the next stage of kicking out the APC from power&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>His choice will definitely gladden the hearts of all well-meaning Nigerians&period;” <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The party had set up a committee to recommend some candidates to the former vice president&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But despite reports on Tuesday that the committee overwhelmingly recommended Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike&comma; his recommendation did not sit well with many leaders of the party&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The leaders felt that Governor Wike is not suitable for a position that places him a heartbeat away from the presidency&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A number of party chieftains raised concerns about the governor’s temperament&comma; his perceived dictatorial tendencies and his propensity for picking fights even with key allies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Some also argued that Governor Okowa possessed a better intellectual bent and would bring better value to governance at the federal level if the ticket is eventually elected by Nigerians&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Atiku allegedly shared their concerns and turned his attention to Governor Okowa who was reported to have been his initial favourite for the position&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Okowa supported Atiku in the primary where Mr Wike was his closest challenger&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After his public presentation Thursday morning&comma; Okowa will appear before a screening committee of the party&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Political parties have until Friday &lpar;tomorrow&rpar; to submit lists of their candidates for the 2023 elections to the Independent National Electoral Commission &lpar;INEC&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;