The choice of who becomes the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s Vice-Presidential candidate to Atiku Abubakar in the up-coming 2023 general election is becoming clearer with the emergence of three candidates namely; the immediate past governor of Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha, Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa and his Akwa Ibom State counterpart, Udom Emmanuel as favourites.
BusinessDay yesterday gathered that the choice of the trio came after painstaking search and consultations by the party’s presidential flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar with some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) and the Board of Trustees. They were said to have been shortlisted from a list of 15 nominees.
Although Atiku and the party are yet to officially disclose the eventual candidate, an aide to Ihedioha confirmed to BusinessDay that his boss had been approached and that he was willing to accept the offer.
According to a national officer of the party (names withheld), the choice of Ihedioha was informed by a number of factors. First, he said is the need to carry the South East zone along having remained committed to the party since 1998 when the PDP was formed.
The second reason is to appease the zone which he said has been constantly robbed of the opportunity to produce a president or vice since the return of Nigeria to civil rule 23 years ago.
“ As a party, we are looking at zoning the Vice Presidency slot to the southeast given the support of the region in time past to our party. And when we look at the track records of Ihedioha, how he has kept faith with the parry, how he has singularly funded the party not just in Imo but the entire south east, we cannot but reward him for such loyalty which is not common.
“And that is not all. As a party desirous of winning the next general election, we must be sensitive to the feelings of the people especially the south east zone. If this is not done, we stand the chance of losing their votes to Peter Obi who has been elected presidential candidate of the Labour Party,” he said,
Also going for Ihedioha according to sources is his wide acceptability as the leader of the PDP in the region coupled with the fact that he was robbed of his mandate through a controversial Supreme Court judgment in January 2022, seven months after he was sworn in as Imo State governor. The action meant there would be no election in Imo State in February 2023.
What that means, said an analyst, is that should PDP fail to win the 2023 presidential election, Ihedioha would still have an opportunity to contest for the governorship seat the election of which would be held in September, same year
The former Imo State governor and deputy speaker, House of Representatives has a very good relationship with Atiku and is known as one of the “Atiku Boys”.
However, in the run up to this year’s presidential primary, Ihedioha worked for Aminu Tambuwal, his close friend and confidant.
Following Tambuwal’s sudden withdrawal from the race, Ihedioha directed his Imo state delegates to vote en mass for Atiku his master and political mentor. That action helped to swell Atiku’s votes at the convention.
The search for a vice presidential candidate of the party started few days after Atiku emerged as the party’s flag bearer.
Having come from the North east, the party’s leadership zeroed its searchlight on the southern Nigeria precisely the South east and south-south zones which are the party’s strong holds.
Read also: Ayu drums support, as Atiku gets PDP Certificate of returns
Apart from Ihedioha, Okowa and Emmanuel, other persons being considered include Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike (who came second in the election with 237 votes against Atiku’s 371) and former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, who came 5th with 14 votes.
However, BusinessDay gathered that after critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate and the zone, Ihedioha came top followed by Okowa and Udom in that order.
At the recently held PDP national convention, Governor Nyesom Wike scored 237 votes to Atiku Abubakar’s 371 to become the flag bearer of the party for the successive second time after he was defeated by President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 general election.
On his part, Ihedioha, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and former governor of Imo State has since he was removed from office by a Supreme Court judgment which favoured Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2020 remained the leader of the PDP in Imo State and indeed the south east.
Born 24 March 1965, Ihedioha In 1992 was appointed press officer to the then Senate President and now PDP National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu. A year later he was appointed chief press secretary to the Deputy Senate President. He became Director of Publicity of the newly formed People’s Democratic Movement, the purveyor of the People’s Democratic Party in 1998.
He was appointed special assistant to the Presidential Adviser on Utilities in July 1999, as a special assistant on media and publicity to the President of the Senate in November 1999, and as a special assistant on political matters to the then Vice President Atiku Abubakar in September 2001. He won a seat in the House of Representatives as a member representing Aboh Mbaise/ Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency of Imo State in 2003 and became deputy speaker of the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. During this period, he served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives after Tambuwal’s swearing-in as the Executive Governor of Sokoto State.
Okowa was born at Owa-Alero in Ika North-East Local Government Area of Delta State. He became Secretary to the Ika Local Government and then Chairman of the Ika North-East Local Government Council (1991–1993). He joined the PDP in 1998, served as a Commissioner in the Delta State government for Agriculture and Natural Resources (July 1999 – April 2001), Water Resources Development (April 2001 – May 2003) and Health (September 2003 – October 2006) and was later appointed Secretary to the Delta state Government. He was elected Senator representing Delta North Senatorial district in the national Assembly in the April 2011 election and Delta state governor in 2015 and 2019 respectively.
Governor Udom Gabriel Emmanuel was born on July 11, 1966, into the family of Ette Teacher Gabriel Emmanuel Nkenang, a native of Awa Iman in Onna Local Government, Akwa Ibom State. A chartered accountant, he served as an audit manager with Price Waterhouse Coopers, joined Zenith Bank as chief financial officer and rose to the position of Executive Director before resigning to contest election in 2025 as Akwa Ibom state governor which he won and was reelected in 2019.
