New reports say Atiku Abubakar, will pick his running mate from the South East region of the country, for the 2019 general elections.
The former vice-president emerged as the flagbearer of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday, after polling 1,532 votes out of total of 3,221 votes, representing almost 50% of the entire delegates’ votes during their presidential primary in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital.
His closest rival, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State scored 693 votes, while Senate President Bukola Saraki came third with 317 votes.
Punch reports that Atiku’s search for a vice-president, may have been limited to the South East after facts emerged that Atiku won the primary through block votes from the South-East, some states in the South-South and North-East.
However, some states in the five states that made up the zone might have reportedly been disqualified.
For instance, Anambra, where Senator Ben Obi who was a former running mate to Atiku hailed from, was said to have been disqualified.
The reason, according to authoritative sources, was because the state had produced two former speakers, two former presidents of the Senate, one vice president and a President.
Also, Enugu State which is a PDP-controlled state, was said to have produced a former national chairman of the PDP.
It was also reportedly argued that the state had produced the deputy president of the Senate for the past seven and half years.
For Imo State, the argument for its non-consideration was that it had produced a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives and had also produced a president of the Senate.
The race, according to sources close to the party, is between Abia and Ebonyi states.