Atiku Abubakar Emerges PDP Presidential Candidate For 2023 Election
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been elected president of the Peoples Democratic Party, making him the party’s frontrunner in the race for the general elections in 2023.
The PDP held its presidential primary polls on Saturday at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja, despite the Independent National Electoral Commission’s decision to extend the primaries (INEC).
Mr Abubakar, a retired customs officer who served as Nigeria’s vice-president from 1999 to 2007, received the most votes from the convention’s 767 delegates. The complete set of results is currently being compiled.
Aminu Tambuwal, the governor of Sokoto state and a fellow presidential candidate, had previously withdrawn from the contest. Mr Tambuwal asked delegates to vote for the former vice president, putting him ahead of his major rival Nyesom Wike.
Mr. Abubakar formally stated his intention in running for President of Nigeria in 2023 in March. Security, the economy, education, and devolving greater resources and authorities to the federating units were all major themes in his campaign.
If elected president in the 2023 general elections, Mr Abubakar pledged the people that his administration would combat the theft of public funds. The presidential candidate promised to give the educational sector the attention it deserves.
His victory followed the comments of Doyin Okupe, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, who revealed that the presidential primary election will be a money market as presidential aspirants, like Messrs Abubakar and Wike, would persuade delegates with money. How much role cash distribution played throughout the exercise was unclear.
Me Abubakar’s desire to be president dates as far back as 2019 when he won the ticket of the PDP but was beaten at the polls by incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.
The former vice president had tried five times unsuccessfully to become Nigeria’s president, starting in 1992 when he ran under the Social Democratic Party. He sought the office in 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019.
