By Ismail Auwal
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has filed a suit seeking to disqualify Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are also dependent in the suit jointly filed by Wike and a PDP chieftain, Newgent Ekamon, at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Wike, who contested for the PDP’s presidential ticket in the party’s primary election lost after Tambuwal stepped down for the former vice-president and asked his supporters to vote for him.
In a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/782/2022, the plaintiffs, asked a federal high court in Abuja to determine if the transfer of Tambuwal’s votes to Atiku is legal.
They asked the court to declare that the PDP was wrong to assign Tambuwal’s votes to the former vice-president.
The plaintiffs asked the court to direct “the first respondent (PDP) to declare the second applicant (Wike), a presidential aspirant in the May 28 and May 29 primary as the winner of the aforesaid primary with a corresponding order directing the first respondent (PDP) to forward his name as the candidate to contest the presidential election in 2023”.
While the former vice-president secured 371 votes to become PDP’s standard bearer, Wike secured 237 votes at that exercise to come second.
The outcome of the primary election led to a crisis within the party.
The development comes after Atiku and Wike tried to mend fences at a meeting brokered by Jerry Gana, former minister and PDP board of trustees (BoT) member in Abuja, last week.
