Stephen Ukandu, News & Features Editor
Few minutes before the commencement of voting at the on-going presidential election of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abuja, one of the leading aspirants, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, has has withdrawn from the presidential race.
The former Speaker, House of Representatives, while announcing his withdrawal from the race, urged his supporters to vote for the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
“Time has come for us to make sacrifices in the interest of our party and our nation. I have come to the conclusion that I have to step down, ” he declared.
Tambuwal’s sudden withdrawal has confirmed speculations that the North is bent on winning the PDP ticket at all cost as delegates from the zone are working towards giving their block vote to one aspirant.
Atiku may have become the consensus candidate of the North but Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers State who gave massive support to Tambuwal against Atiku in the 2019 PDP convention held in Port Harcourt is still pulling weight at the Abuja contest.
With Tambuwal’s withdrawal which pundits see as a wrong way to reciprocate Wike’s gestures in 2019, the contest now appears to be between Wike and Atiku.