With 371 votes, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has secured the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the 2023 presidential election.

Atiku Defeated his closest river, Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who scored 237 votes.

The former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, scored 70 votes; while Udom Emmanuel, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State scored 38 votes, amongst others.

Another aspirant and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, had earlier stood down his aspiration in support of Atiku, the decision many considered a decider of the primaries.

In his acceptance speech, Alhaji Abubakar promised to work with all other contestants in the election to build the party to a stage that it can win elections with a focus to unify the Country.

Atiku who also called on all the aggrieved party members to return to the Party, maintained that the PDP is a democratic party with internal mechanisms to resolve all grievances without going to courts.

He said, “Today, we are making another history, a history which we believe will bring about fundamental changes in governance and also in our political processes.

“Today, we have witnessed another one of the freest elections to be conducted by our great party. Again, today marks another milestone in the process to consolidate our democratic gains.”

He promised to tackle insecurity, bad economy and to restore unity in the Country while working with other contestants.

“Today will give us the opportunity to reverse all the misgovernance in this country, I am ready to cooperate and work with them and give them sense of belonging in this party and our next government.

“It was a well fought primary election and I look forward to working with you closely to build the party to an extent that we can win the next election.

“Aggrieved party should come back to the Party and their grievances will be resolved within the Party. There are internal mechanisms to resolve issues in this party, instead of law court, let us use the internal mechanisms, we are very democratic party.

“Let us remember the poor people of this country, let us work to resolve most of their challenges if not all of their challenges.”

 

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