Over 2,300 delegates of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC gathered at Eagle Square in Abuja since the late hours of Tuesday to choose the candidate to face 75-year-old Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), among others in the presidential election slated for February 25, 2023.
The West African Pilot has gathered some updates from the national convention.
APC Delegate From Jigawa Slumps, Dies In Abuja
Tragedy struck yesterday as the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost one of its 2,340 delegates from Jigawa State.
It was gathered that the delegate, identified as Malam Isah Baba-Buji, reportedly slumped and died on Tuesday morning at Jigawa State Liason Office in Abuja while preparing to move to Eagle Square, the venue of the party’s convention.
The APC spokesperson in Jigawa State, Bashir Kundu, confirmed the incident to journalists in the State.
The deceased, one of the 61 delegates from Buji Local Government, was the APC vice chairman for Jigawa South-West senatorial zone.
Onu Demands Justice For South-East
While pitching his agenda to party delegates just before the commencement of voting at the presidential primary on Tuesday, former Minister for Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu has said there is no justice in having the All Progressives Congress (APC) fail to zone the 2023 presidency to the South East.
“What is very very important, exceptionally important, is that we must ensure that justice is upheld,” he said in his address. Naturally, it should be somebody from the South East that will replace (Buhari), and that will give the opposite South versus North and Christian versus Muslim a balance, and it will bring stability to the nation; it will strengthen Nigeria,” the former minister explained bitterly.
He went further to ask in anguish, “The South West had eight years as president, eight years as vice president; the South South had eight years as president and vice president; where is the justice? Where is the justice?”
He believes the party needs to do what is right, adding that if such a just measure is taken, then the nation will have peace and under a peaceful atmosphere, the country will prosper.
Akpabio, Amosun, Fayemi, Four Others Step Down For Tinubu
The National Leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday secured the support of some of his fellow aspirants to get the party’s ticket as they took turns to announce that they were stepping down for him.
These aspirants later beckoned on their teeming supporters who stormed the venue of the APC presidential primary to vote for Tinubu when it was time for the election.
First of the presidential aspirants to announce his withdrawal from the primary to support his co-contender in the race was Senator Godswill Akpabio, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.
Similarly, six other aspirants mounted the podium to announce their withdrawal from the contest for the APC presidential ticket and subsequent support for Tinubu.
They are former governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun; Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa; Senator Ajayi Boroffice; and the only female in the contest, Uju Kennedy Ohanenye.
Nicholas Felix Steps Down For Osinbajo
Mr Nicholas Felix, a US-based pentecostal preacher stepped down for Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
Felix, the only aspirant to do so for the Vice President, said his decision was based on the need to have a well qualified and focused Christian from the southern part of the country to lead Nigeria in 2023.
In a veiled reference to the prospect of having Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu as flagbearer of the party, he warned against a Muslim-Muslim joint ticket ahead of the 2023 poll.
The aspirant, who is in his early 40s, expressed gratitude to the party’s northern governors over the decision to throw their weights behind the clamour for a power shift to the southern part of the country.
Tunde Bakare Refuses To Step Down For Anyone
Pastor Tunde Bakare of The Citadel Global Community Church made it clear that he will not step down for any aspirant in the race to be the ruling party’s presidential flag-bearer.
“I respect every aspirant here, including Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. But I am not stepping down for anyone. I am here by the grace of God to step up and contest to become the 16th president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the cleric said, expressing confidence that he will clinch the party’s ticket.
His comments came after aspirants like Ibiyemi Amosun, Godswill Akpabio, Kayode Fayemi, among others stepped down for Tinubu.
Bakare got zero votes at the end of the primary election.
Tinubu Wins APC Primary
Former Lagos State Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be squaring off against Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Peter Obi of Labour Party, and other candidates in the 2023 presidential election as he has been declared the winner of the party’s presidential primary.
He won the election by a landslide after beating the likes of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.
Tinubu polled a total of 1,271 votes – more than four times the votes scored by his closet rival, Amaechi who had 316 votes.
Osinbajo, Lawan, the ‘consensus candidate’ of Abdullahi Adamu, APC national chairman, and Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State came behind the duo with 235, 152, and 47 votes respectively.
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