Last minute attempts to reach an agreement among presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic (PDP) for a consensus candidate did not work yesterday at the PDP Primaries in Port Harcourt.
The failure to agree on a consensus candidate resulted in the party going into voting to pick the candidate. But the voting did not start as at 1.30am when the story was filed, Daily Post reports.
Over 3,600 delegates across the country were accredited for the election yesterday.
Twelve aspirants competed for the PDP presidential ticket in the Rivers State capital yesterday.
The aspirants include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; Sokoto State governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal; Gombe State governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo; Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki; former governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State; former governor Ahmed Makarfi of Kaduna State; and former Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki.
Others are former Senate President David Mark; former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa; former governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang; the founder of Baze University, Sen. Datti Baba-Ahmed and Mr. Stanley Osifo.
It was learnt that a meeting of the party’s stakeholders and the aspirants was held to encourage some of the aspirants to withdraw but without success.
Sources said majority of the votes would be cast for Tambuwal, Atiku and Saraki.
Tambuwal is believed to have the support of PDP governors and a section of its leaders.
Delegates to the convention were said to have become the brides of the 12 aspirants who wooed them with “bribes” to influence their choice.
A chieftain of the party, who provided accommodation for some PDP delegates in Port Harcourt yesterday, confided in our correspondent yesterday afternoon, that the delegates were brought in by one of the presidential hopefuls.
He said the aspirant paid for their accommodation, feeding, transportation and general welfare, just to secure their votes.
When asked to give specific details as to how much was given to each of the delegates, the PDP stalwart, who pleaded anonymity said:
“They are receiving the package based on their political antecedents.”
“But the cash is between N200,000 and N500,000, depending on the delegate’s pedigree and relationship with the actors,” he said.
