TheCable

Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto, has been declared the senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Sokoto south.

Speaking after he was announced as the senatorial candidate on Saturday, Tambuwal commended the delegates and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the “successful” primary.

The governor will square up against Ibrahim Danbaba, incumbent senator of the district, who recently defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the PDP.

During the PDP national convention, Tambuwal had announced his withdrawal from the presidential race and asked his supporters to back former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

At the end of the exercise, the former vice-president polled 371 votes and was declared the winner, while Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, who was his closest challenger, secured 237 votes.

Tambuwal, while bidding for the PDP presidential ticket, never took his eyes off the Sokoto south senatorial seat.

Premium Times had earlier reported that Tambuwal had concluded plans to replace the winner of the Sokoto south senatorial primary — Aminu Bodinga — who was the immediate past commissioner for land and survey in Sokoto.

The newspaper said Bodinga had contested the PDP senatorial primary unopposed and that the former commissioner stood as a proxy for the Sokoto governor.