Ahead of its presidential primaries scheduled for October 5 and 6, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, it was gathered, are divided over the choice of the right candidate.

It was also gathered that the governors under the aegis of PDP Governors’ Forum are divided between the choice of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal and ex-Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

A source in the PDP Governors’ Forum, who confided in our correspondent yesterday said eight out of the PDP 14 governors are rooting for Saraki, while the remaining governors are divided between Atiku and Tambuwal.

The party has governors in Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Benue, Kwara, Gombe, Taraba and Sokoto states. Out of the 14 governors, Gombe and Sokoto governors are in the presidential race. The 13 presidential aspirants vying for the PDP presidential ticket are, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwabo; President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki; former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido; former Governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi; and a former Special Duties Minister, Tanimu Turaki.

Others are a former President of the Senate, David Mark; a former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; a former Governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa; a former Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang; former senator, Dr. Baba Datti Ahmed and Stanley Osifo.

The source, who spoke with Vanguard said that “the governors are divided on the best choice out of the 13 aspirants. While eight backed the choice of Saraki, two are supporting Atiku, while the other two support Tambuwal. Dankwambo and Tambuwal are also in the race.”

Recall that on Tuesday, the governors, while meeting with the aspirants and members of PDP National Working Committee (NWC) had disagreed with the idea of consensus candidate and had resolved that all the aspirants should go for the primaries.

The source added that “The governors disagreed with the issue of consensus. They said that all the aspirants should go for the primaries to avoid unforeseen development. They want a contest among the aspirants so that the best can emerge.”

•Sourced from a Vanguard report

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