Okowa Beaten as PDP Panel Recommends Wike as Atiku’s Running Mate

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) committee set up to recommend a Vice-presidential candidate for Atiku Abubakar has reportedly picked Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State as the party’s running mate.

While picking Wike as its first option, the PDP panel said the governor as vice-presidential candidate will do better for the ticket than his main challengers.

Naija News reports that others considered for the PDP presidential ticket are Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State who were selected as second and third options respectively.

According to two sources familiar with the decision, the chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum and Sokoto StateGovernor, Aminu Tambuwal also endorsed the decision to prioritise Wike on the list of key vice-presidential options.

Sources told Peoples Gazette that PDP Governors, board of trustee members and the national working committee officials made contributions to the list of running mates for Alhaji Atiku.

“They were recommended based on their individual strength,” a source said.

The running mate option has been a close contest between Wike and Okowa, who was reportedly promised the ticket by Atiku since last year.

Recall that Okowa had recently stated that only God can stop him from emerging as Atiku’s running mate in the 2023 general election.

It was gathered that the decision to pick PDP’s vice-presidential candidate still rests with Atiku as the decision of the committee may not stand.