Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Sunday won the presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the surprise of some political observers who had thought Aminu Tambuwal, with the backing of PDP strong man, Governor Nyesom Wike, will get it.
First, investigations showed that the search might have been limited to the South-East region of the country. He got a lot of votes from the Igbos and also from Bayelsa state.
However, in the election, Atiku polled 1,532 votes out of total of 3,221 votes, representing almost 50 per cent of the entire delegates’ votes.
His closest rival, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State scored 693 votes, while the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, came third with 317 votes.
A former Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, scored 158 votes; followed by others
How Atiku Won
Facts have emerged that Atiku won the primary through block votes from the South-East, some states in the South-South and North-East.
It was also gathered that there was no state in the country where Atiku did not score considerable number of votes.
It was learnt that Atiku was not the favourite of some governors in the South-South who had a soft spot for Tambuwal, to become the standard bearer of the PDP.
It was, however, gathered that the alleged gang-up against Atiku from emerging the candidate of the party was thwarted by delegates’ votes from some of the states from other regions, apart from the South-South.
One of the delegates, who spoke to The Punch on condition of anonymity, said Tambuwal’s closeness to some governors in the zone was what prevented Abubakar from recording a clean sweep of the votes of the South-East delegates.
“Most of us from the South-East cast our votes for Atiku Abubakar, I know for a fact that Ebonyi delegates voted massively for him.
“Atiku got the backing of majority of the delegates from the other states in the zone, although Tambuwal was able to record a considerable number of votes.
“One of the governors (in the South-East) has a close relationship with Tambuwal and that had a major influence on the way delegates from the state voted, otherwise Abubakar would have recorded a clean sweep of the votes from the zone,” the delegate said.
