Former lawmaker emerges Atiku’s favoured pick for running mate

<p><strong>Former Vice President and Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party &lpar;PDP&rpar;&comma; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">Atiku Abubakar<&sol;a> is reportedly favouring <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">Emeka Ihedioha<&sol;a> to emerge as his running mate&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Since Atiku emerged as the flag bearer of the main opposition party the names of Governors Ifeanyi Okowa&comma; Nyesom Wike&comma; Udom Emmanuel have been thrown up as those considered to be the former VP’s running mate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But sources have now tipped the former Imo state governor&comma; Ihedioha to be selected&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When contacted&comma; Media aide to the former Imo state governor&comma; AIC Akwarandu told <em>Vanguard<&sol;em> that Ihedioha’s name is among other names being considered &period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said&comma;<em><strong> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Ihedioha is not Vice President&period; Atiku is yet to choose&period; However&comma; his name is among those being tipped for it which he has been indifferent about&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But a source in the PDP revealed that Ihedioha has been favoured among others to be Atiku’s running mate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said&comma; <strong><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Ihedioha has a very good relationship with Atiku and Tambuwal but he mobilized for Tambuwal during the primary and we all saw what happened when Atiku needed help&comma; Tambuwal came to his rescue&period;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;As a party&comma; we are looking at zoning the Vice Presidency slot to the southeast given the support of the region in time past to our party&period; And when I look at the track records of Ihedioha&comma; he is the best fit for the role&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;buhari-shortlists-two-presidential-aspirants-as-successor&sol;">Buhari Shortlists Two Presidential Aspirants As Successor&comma; Identities Revealed<&sol;a><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p>Recall that Ihedioha&comma; a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and former governor of Imo state&comma; was removed from office by a Supreme Court judgement which favoured Hope Uzodimma of the All progressive congress&comma; APC&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;