APC Presidential aspirants

About 8,000 delegates to the third national convention of the opposition All Progressives Congress were still voting in Lagos as at 7.15 am to decide the presidential candidate of the party.

Delegates voted according to the alphabetical order of states. Lagos delegates were voting at 7.15 a.m

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party endorsed President Jonathan’s nomination Wednesday night in Abuja, at its own convention.

In Lagos, five aspirants of the APC are in the race to pick the party’s ticket. They are former head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, Kano state governor, Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha and newspaper publisher, Sam Nda Isaiah.

The convention ceremonies started Wednesday night at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, with goodwill messages from the party chairman, John Odigie Oyegun and convention chairman, Kayode Fayemi. The national leader of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu also delivered a goodwill message in which he urged delegates to seize the moment and make history.

“Make this convention one that will be forever remembered as the moment Nigeria turned from failure to move toward its finest destiny. Make this the convention where we rejected the notion that Nigeria cannot become any better than it is and where we consecrated our party to be the catalyst to make Nigeria what she ought to be,” Tinubu said.

Tinubu said the APC is set to liberate the nation from its current quagmire, saying that the movement for a change is beckoning.

“APC is the party that will bring care to this nation, Nigerians may be in despair, but we promise them help. Nigeria will change for the better and the economic doom Nigeria is facing will be wiped away by the cure the APC will bring,” he said.

Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, flanked by party officials had launched the party manifesto. He also enjoined members to digest it, while also announcing the presence of a former chairman of the ruling PDP at the convention, Barnabas Gemade. The latter is now the APC senatorial candidate in Benue North East. “Your party is growing in leaps and bound’, an excited Oyegun said.

“APC is ready to provide leadership for a new Nigeria. Change is imminent. We have five people that can lead this nation, anyone of them can do it and with the five of them together, they will be unbeatable. They are all winners because they have agreed to support whosoever emerged winner today.

“The imperative of this exercise is to rescue Nigeria and this demands that all our hands should be on deck. I appeal to you delegates to proceed for the exercise and do so with all sense of responsibility. Vote according to your conscience,” he said.

Unveiling the manifesto, Oyegun said it had six cardinal points, which were national security, good governance, human capital development, economic development, land and natural resources and foreign policy.

Later in the night, all the five candidates took the podium to address members.

Buhari: speaks at the Lagos convention

General Muhammadu Buhari said he is not seeking office for personal reasons, but to help launch a battle against the nation’s ills, such as corruption.

“Let’s be clear. This is not a time for continuity. Failure does not deserve continuity. Incompetence does not deserve continuity. It deserves change; that is what the nation deserves and that is what we will bring,” he said.

sam Nda Isaiah: delivers his address

“We seek a new Nigeria. It starts with us. It starts today. I have placed myself before you seeking your help to nominate me as your standard bearer for our progressive party, APC. Personal ambition does not drive me in this regard. I seek to be the next president of our beloved nation because I believe I have something to offer Nigeria at this time of multiple crises.

“Insecurity, corruption, and economic collapse have brought the nation low. Time is past due that we work together to lift Nigeria up. I am ready to lead Nigeria to its rightful future. I have always served Nigeria to the best of my ability. I have always tried to give more to the nation than it has given me.

“This is the principle of service that has guided my public life. Thus, I am not a rich person. I cannot give you a bucket of dollars or naira to purchase your support. Even if I could, I would not do so. The fate of this nation is not up for sale,” Buhari said.

He said what he would give the nation was all his strength, commitment, sweat and toil in the service of the people, saying, “what I can give you is my all. I do not intend to rule Nigeria. I want to democratically rescue it with your help. I seek a Nigeria where Christians and Muslims may practice their faith in peace and security.”

“I seek a Nigeria that is just and where corruption no longer trespasses into our institutions and national behaviour. And I also seek a Nigeria where our diversity could be used for our national prosperity. Nigeria is our home. Let us now turn it into the great nation we know it can and should be,” he stated.

Rochas Okorocha: take his turn

Abubakar, on his part, said Nigerians wanted change because they were fed up with paying for electricity and getting darkness which was also destroying the nation’s industries and contributing to unemployment and crime.

He said Nigerians were tired of the dangerous PDP mathematics that is destroying “our democracy, the mathematics where 16 is greater than 19 and seven is greater than 19. I’m of course referring to the Nigerian Governors Forum and recent events in Ekiti State respectively.

“Nigerians are tired of the abuse of power, lawlessness and impunity of the PDP government; the type of impunity that sees a court sacked and judges beaten up by thugs under the direction of a party to litigation, a governor-elect.”

Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso: also addresses convention

Abubakar Atiku cools down