Nigeria: South-South Governors Okowa, Obaseki, Emmanuel in Race to Become Atiku’s Running Mate

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, may pick his running mates from among a list of four eminent Nigerians, THISDAY learnt on Sunday.

Amongst those being considered for the position include: The Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, his Edo State counterpart, Godwin Obaseki, Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel and former Senate President Pius Anyim.

Atiku was elected late Saturday at a special convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after beating the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Nyesom Wike, former Governor Bukola Saraki, among others to emerge the party’s standard bearer.

Okowa
Okowa is the current Governor of Delta State and before then was elected senator for Delta North Senatorial District . A calm politician, he is an Ika from Owa-Alero and was re-elected as the governor of Delta State on May 29, 2019.
A medical doctor by training, he has been Secretary to the Ika Local Government and then Chairman of the Ika North-East Local Government Council and has consistently remained in the PDP since 1998.
A former commissioner in Delta State at different times, he was elected Delta North Senatorial candidate in January 2011 and clinched the ticket for the gubernatorial election in 2015. By May 2023, Okowa would have completed his two constitutionally guaranteed terms.

Udom
Born in July 1966, the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, took office since May 29, 2015.
Emmanuel bagged a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Lagos in 1988 and is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM).
He was appointed in 2013 as Secretary to the State Government of Akwa Ibom and in 2015, he was elected governor of the state, succeeding his benefactor, Godswill Akpabio.
Re-elected in 2019, after defeating 44 other candidates at the poll, Emmanuel was one of the aspirants for the PDP presidential ticket, eventually won by Atiku at the weekend.

Obaseki
Born in 1957, Obaseki is currently the Governor of Edo State. He served as the chairman of the Edo State Economic and Strategy Team inaugurated by former Governor Adams Oshiomhole in March 2009.
He holds post graduate degrees in both Finance and International Business and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stock Brokers, Nigeria.
In addition, he served as an executive board member of several private companies including Afrinvest.

Anyim
One time President of the Senate and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, hails from Ebonyi State in Southeast Nigeria.
A respectable blend between the old and the new generations of politicians, Anyim attended Imo State University, where he studied law and graduated in 1987. And since joining politics in 1998, he has progressed enviably as one of the leading lights from the Southeast geopolitical zone, even though he had a lull for sometime.
With a good grasp of the nation’s complexities and her fault lines, Anyim has proven to also know what the issues are with profound solutions often suggested on the way forward. Thus, as a force from the Igbo-speaking nation, he qualifies as a worthy complement to the PDP presidential ticket.

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