Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar became the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate on Saturday, with the help of Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal.
By announcing that he would be stepping down in order to support Atiku, the governor, who had previously served as Speaker of the House of Representatives, provided the former number two citizen with the necessary boost.
The presidential primary was held in Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja, and about 767 delegates elected from throughout the country participated in the voting process.
Atiku got 371 votes. Nyesom Wike, the incumbent governor of Rivers State, finished in second place with 237 votes. Tambuwal, a well-respected member of the party, waited until the eleventh hour to reveal his wild card.
A meeting of top leaders of the PDP from the north failed to negotiate a consensual arrangement among contenders from the north just hours before the convention. This was because several of them declined to move ground; they preferred to participate in the primary instead.
Two other candidates had dropped out of the campaign without giving their support to Atiku. They are Mohammed Hayatudeen, a seasoned professional in the finance industry, and Nwachukwu Anakwenze.
As a result of Tambuwal’s decision to step aside and back Atiku, delegates who had previously indicated their preference for him as a candidate now change their support to Atiku.
Because Atiku viewed Tambuwal’s action as being so significant, he thanked him for it in a tweet and then acknowledged Tambuwal.
“Thank you, H.E @AWTambuwal, for your spirited campaign. I look forward to working with you as we unite our party and our country,” he wrote.
Atiku was born on November 25, 1946 in Jada, Adamawa. He ran for governor of the state three times in 1990, 1997 and in 1998, when he was elected before becoming the running mate to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, of which he remained the Vice President till 2003.
Atiku has contested the office of the president several times including 2014, when he ran on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and lost at the primaries to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.
He also ran as the PDP presidential candidate in 2019, but lost President Buhari.
