The search for a suitable candidate to fly the People’s Democratic Party, PDP with Atiku Abubakar kicked off almost immediately, shortly after the Adamawa-born politician secured approval for his presidential bid.
Already, NewMailNG reliably gathered that while the ticket may have been limited to the South-East region of the country, a larger part of 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, allegedly 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.
However, another source said the search for a suitable running mate had not been completely taken out of the South-West but it was gathered that the party would not impose any candidate on Atiku, but would only serve as a guide, by “putting into consideration all political variables that would enable us win in 2019,” a source said.