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The betrayal, surprises: How Atiku emerged PDP presidential candidate
The Presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP may have come and ended with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar emerging victorious, but the intrigues, betrayal, loyalty and surprises leading to his emergence has remained a topic that will not end soon.
Atiku won after polling 371 votes, which represents 48 percent of the 767 accredited delegates. Closely behind Atiku, was the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, who garnered 237 votes while Former Senate President Bukola Saraki, who came third, had 71 votes.
Interestingly, one of the frontline aspirants, Sokoto Governor Aminu Tambuwal, stepped down at the last minute to support Atiku, an action that turned the tide in favour of the former Vice President.
Wike, from the outcome of the poll, was the leading aspirant from the Southern region but the votes were mostly shared between Atiku, Wike and Saraki.
The former vice president won in Ogun, Ondo and Lagos. Saraki won in Osun. Wike, who also picked substantial votes from Lagos, won Oyo and Ekiti where he got the backing of Governor Seyi Makinde and former Governor Ayodele Fayose respectively.
In Ondo, Wike had banked on the support of Eyitayo Jegede, the PDP candidate in the last governorship election in Ondo State, to deliver the votes of delegates from the state but he was met with disappointment.
It was a bit different in the South East, one of the geopolitical zones that Wike banked on. Meanwhile, Wike lost Anambra to Atiku while Former Senate President Pius Anyim won the votes of the delegates from his home Ebonyi State.
Wike won Abia and Enugu through the support of Governors Okezie Ikpeazu and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi respectively.
In the South-South geopolitical, Wike’s stronghold, he won in three of the six states in his home zone.
He won Rivers, Cross River and Edo. However, the delegates from Delta and Bayelsa ignored the governor of their neighbouring state, Mr Wike; and gave their votes to Atiku.
Governor Udom Emmanuel swept the votes of his delegates from Akwa Ibom to take his overall tally to 38.
If not for the fact that Tambuwal stepped aside, votes from the three geopolitical zones in the North would have been shared between Atiku, Tambuwal and Saraki.
Atiku won five of the Northwestern states, except Kano where the loyalists of a former governor of the state, Rabiu Kwankwaso, gave their 44 votes to Wike; and Katsina where the two frontrunners shared the votes.
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In the North-Central zone – Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger and Plateau – the votes were shared by Atiku, Wike and Saraki.
Saraki, a former Kwara State Governor, had a clean sweep of the votes of the delegates from Kwara while Atiku and Mr Wike shared the votes from Niger State. Atiku won Plateau and most of the votes from Nasarawa.
However, Wike got seven votes in Nasarawa where he supported the man who won the governorship ticket of the party, David Ombugadu, and had expected to get more votes in reciprocity.
Wike won in the Federal Capital Territory through the support of the sole senator representing the capital, Philip Aduda, and shared the votes with Atiku in Benue and Kogi.
The votes from the North-East geopolitical zone were largely swept by Atiku. Atiku, who is from Adawama won outright in four of the six states in his home zone, except Bauchi which went to homeboy Governor Bala Mohammed and Taraba which he shared with Wike.