Except for a major upset, the odds, yesterday, seemed to favour Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, in the race for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket.
At press time, hot on Tambuwal’s heels and also tipped to displace him was former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
Hours before the party’s elective congress proper got underway at the Adokiye A’smiesimaka Stadium, in the outskirts of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, intense horsetrading geared at pruning the number of aspirants to a manageable size failed to yield fruits, as most of them were adamant on stepping down.
The Guardian gathered from sources that efforts were also on to scuttle Tambuwal’s ambition by some of the aspirants who felt that he was being unduly favoured by some PDP governors.
One Rivers State delegate disclosed that most of the governors were backing Tambuwal because he was young and hails from the seat of the caliphate.
The source explained that after intense negotiations, majority of PDP governors zeroed down to their colleague from Sokoto State because of the belief that the leadership of the caliphate would easily mobilise emirs in the North West, North East and North Central states to support the candidature of Tambuwal during the general election. Read more