Atiku meets rival Wike after primary

The PDP flagbearer Atiku Abubakar  on Monday met his first runner-up and Rivers Gov. Nyesom Wike in Abuja.

The Monday meeting was to reconcile the two party chieftains and give the PDP a robust outing in the 2023 presidential election against the ruling All Progressives Congress.

Wike and others contested the party presidential primary against Atiku last Saturday.

During the PDP presidential primary held at the Moshood Abiola Stadium on Saturday, Atiku polled 371 votes to defeat Wike, who got 237 votes; a former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, 70 votes; the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom, 38 votes; the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, 20 votes; a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, 14 votes and an ex-President of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Sam Ohuabunwa, one vote.

Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, who was one of the front runners for the presidential ticket, stepped down and directed his supporters to vote for Atiku as a result of what sources said was due to the intervention of the northern elders, who were pushing for a northern consensus aspirant.

Ahead of the expiration of the President, Major General Muhammadu’s (retd.) eight-year tenure on May 29 next year, interest groups, including the Southern Governors’ Forum, the pan-Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, and the Southern and Middle Belt Elders’ Forum have been calling for the zoning of the presidency to the South.