Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accepted his nomination as presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and told party member that it was time to find solutions to challenges facing the nation.
The 72-year-old Fulani-born business tycoon and politician, said PDP had been able to articulate the problems facing Nigeria and it was time to come back to power in order to address the problems.
Abubakar, who scored 1,532 votes to defeat 11 other PDP heavy weights, said that his victory was a landmark in the history of the party.
The party, he said, had never conducted a much better primary since the enthronement of democracy in 1999.
Abubakar, who was Vice President to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 – 2007, said: “We have witnessed the most critical and transparent primary in the history of the party.’’
He said it was time for members of the party to come together to support his ticket as he could not do it alone.
The PDP candidate said that he was prepared to consult with all players in the party to ensure the success in the 2019 elections.
He appealed to co-contestants to support him in the fight to win back power from APC.
The Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, has said that in the just concluded Presidential Primary of the PDP, there was no victor and no vanquished.
READ: Uche Secondus says ‘No victor, no vanquished’ after Atiku’s victory
Giving a speech after the declaration of Atiku Abubakar as the winner of the polls, Secondus said that all the aspirants in the election won the election.
Secondus insisted that the process being free and fair, had all the aspirants contesting as brothers, adding that although a winner has been declared, the credibility of the process was a victory for PDP and all the aspirants.
He called on the aspirants to keep true to their congratulatory message to Atiku Abubakar, urging them to work together as one bloc to ensure that the PDP clinches power in 2019 and save Nigeria.
Secondus also used the opportunity to call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to “learn from the Presidential Primary of the PDP and know that election can be free and fair”
