Abuja – Nigeria’s opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar on Thursday selected the governor of oil-producing southern Delta State as his running mate for 2023 election.
Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party or PDP candidate on his sixth presidential bid, faces ruling party flagbearer and former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu in the February election.
Africa’s most populous state, Nigeria faces huge security and economic challenges eight months from the ballot to chose who will replace President Muhammadu Buhari who steps down after two terms.
Abubakar, 75, a Muslim from northeastern Adamawa State, said he had named Delta governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his vice presidential running mate.
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“I made clear that my running mate would have the potential to succeed me at a moment’s notice, that is, a president-in-waiting,” Abubakar told a press conference in Abuja.
The All Progressives Congress or APC ruling party’s Tinubu, a southern Muslim, has yet to announce his choice, but he is widely expected to chose a running mate from the northern regions.
A key question in the build-up to the party primaries last month and this month was “zoning”, an unwritten deal calling for the presidency to alternate between south and north.
After two terms with northern Muslim Buhari, many expect a southern president. PDP broke with “zoning” tradition and named a northern candidate.
The accord – and a tendency for candidates to choose running mates from a different religion and region than themselves – is seen as a balance in a country almost equally split between a mostly Christian south and predominantly Muslim north.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@Imudia_se2
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