Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, among other presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party are now in a battle of dollars splash on delegates, voting at today’s crucial presidential primary in Abuja.
It was learnt that each delegate at the special convention had been given over $50,000 bribe to sway their votes in favour of particular aspirants.
No fewer than 811 delegates are expected to decide the fate of the PDP presidential aspirants in the ongoing convention.
The 811 delegates of the party consist of one national delegate elected from each of the 774 local government areas and one special delegate per state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from among persons living with disabilities.
Top sources said on Saturday that Atiku, Wike, former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, were competing in the splash of thousands of dollars on the delegates and it was only a matter of highest bidder.
“Each of the PDP delegates has got $50,000 for now; Wike, 15,000 dollars; Atiku, 20,000 dollars; Saraki, 10,000 dollars and Tambuwal, 10,000 dollars,” one of the sources said.
For months, the aspirants had been traversing the country and offering bribes to delegates across states in attempt to woo delegates to vote for them.
The “money politics” in the PDP had not gone down with some of the aspirants who feared they could not match the lavish spending of the leading aspirants and quit the contest and the party.
Only on Saturday morning, one of the presidential aspirants of the PDP, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, withdrew from the race.
The former Managing Director of FSB International Bank, announced his withdrawal from the race in a letter addressed to Dr Iyorchia Ayu, National Chairman of the PDP, following the path of former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, who abandoned the race and also dumped the party for Labour Party days ago.
But unlike Obi, Hayatu-Deen promised to remain in the opposition party.