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LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's main opponent in next year's elections has selected a former southeastern governor as a vice-presidential candidate, the candidate's spokesman said on Friday.
A man walks past a van decorated with images of Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, in the city of Port Harcourt, in the southern Niger Delta, Nigeria, on October 7, 2018. REUTERS / Tife Owolabi / Files
Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president who will run as a candidate of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 2019 vote, has chosen Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State, in the south East of the country.
The choice suggests an attempt to generate support in the southeast, where Buhari misjudged in previous elections and cracked down on secessionists by deploying troops in the streets. Geographic affiliations are crucial in a country of 190 million inhabitants belonging to 250 ethnic groups.
"Former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi is the candidate for the vice presidency of the People's Democratic Party," a spokesman for Abubakar said in a text message.
Obi had a background in business before embarking on politics. Abubakar has long enjoyed the support of the Nigerian business elite. As Vice President from 1999 to 2007, he implemented a liberalization program in areas such as the telecommunications sector.
Buhari's management of one of Africa's largest economies since taking office in 2015 has already become a campaign issue. The country emerged in 2017 from its first recession in 25 years, but economic growth remains slow and inflation is higher than the single-digit target of the central bank.
