Atiku shortlists 3 southern governors as running mate (Full List)

<p><strong>The presidential candidate of the <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">Peoples Democratic Party &lpar;PDP&rpar;<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">Atiku Abubakar<&sol;a> has reportedly submitted three names of his possible <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">running mate<&sol;a> to leaders of the main opposition party to select from&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The PDP must submit the name of its presidential candidate and running mate to the Independent National Electoral Commission &lpar;INEC&rpar; before the deadline set for June 17&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It was gathered that <strong>Governors Nyesom Wike&comma; Ifeanyi Okowa and Udom Emmanuel of Rivers&comma; Delta and Akwa Ibom States<&sol;strong> respectively made the list&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But sources disclosed that Atiku&comma; a former Nigerian Vice-President&comma; is favourably disposed to the choice of Okowa&comma; a medical doctor serving his second term as the governor&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Atiku will consult very well&period; He has met with the governors on the platform of the party&semi; he has met with members of the national caucus&comma; the PDP Governors’ Forum&comma; members of the National Executive Committee&comma; and even former presidents and heads of state&comma;”<&sol;strong> <&sol;em>a top source told <em>The PUNCH<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The leadership of the party asked him to bring three names that he thinks he could work with and he did&comma; which are the names people have been mentioning everywhere&semi; Wike&comma; Okowa and Udom Emmanuel&period; But I think he prefers Okowa&period; He &lpar;Okowa&rpar; is believed to have the support of the majority of the governors&comma; including those from the South-East and South-South&comma; where he hails from&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The preference for him is also strategic&period; Following the need to carry along the South-East people&comma; Okowa is Igbo from the Igbo part of Delta State&period; He is calm&comma; a medical doctor and does not insult or fight people&comma; including his colleagues&period; Even during campaigns&comma; he’s not the type to speak ill of fellow aspirants or candidates&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Therefore&comma; it’s not likely that there will be any major opposition to his choice&period; Like I said&comma; he is Igbo and he will create that needed balance between the South-South and the South-East&period; The Igbo will support him and people in the South-South will also support him&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The source&comma; who was privy to some of the meetings held over the issue&comma; disclosed that some PDP governors are not in favour of Wike becoming Atiku’s running mate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The source claimed that some governors frustrated the move to make him the running mate because they feel he is too powerful&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;But in all honesty&comma; you need someone like Wike to win the election&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He can fight dirty and can pull the crowd&period; But some of the governors&comma; who form a powerful and influential bloc in the party&comma; feel otherwise and you cannot dismiss their views&comma;”<&sol;strong> <&sol;em>the source said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1>The Bola Tinubu factor<&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p>The highly-placed revealed that some stakeholders are considering picking a running mate from the South-West to challenge the emergence of Bola Tinubu&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The source said PDP stakeholders are saying it will be dangerous for the party to totally ignore the South-West&comma; because North-West&comma; which has the highest votes&comma; may give Tinubu that advantage&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Now&comma; people are saying if a Christian from the South-West is Atiku’s running mate&comma; it will affect Tinubu’s votes in the region&comma; because running with a Muslim&sol;Muslim ticket will spark outrage from Pentecostal Christians and that will affect his votes among even the northern Christians&period; It will also affect him in the South-South&period; That is the argument&period; So&comma; the PDP cannot also ignore the South-West&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;