Atiku Abubakar, preisdential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says he needs the support of everyone if his party must emerge victorious at the 2019 presidential election.
Atiku said this in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Sunday while accepting his victory as candidate of the party, after overwhelmingly defeating Aminu Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto State and former Speaker of the House of representatives.
“Today, we are witnessing a landmark event; a landmark event in the sense that since the rebranding of our great party, the PDP, and in fact, I dare say, since the return of democratic rule of governance in this country, we have witnessed the most credible, transparent and fair primary,” he said.
“Let me also commend my fellow competitors or aspirants for displaying a sense of unity, a sense of purpose and a sense of commitment. This is a very rare event.
“My fellow compatriots, I’m very sure that the interest and that of the people of this country is paramount and more important than our individual interests. I want to let it be known to each and everyone and to assure them that I am ever ready to work with each and everyone of them for the realisation of the victory of our party in the forthcoming elections.
“I cannot do it alone. I need your support; I need your assistance; I need your understanding and I need your participation. It is not a one-man job. It is a collective responsibility and I am prepared to listen to you, to take your advice; to consult with you; to work with you and together we will succeed and when we succeed, we shall all be partners in that success.”
Atiku paid tributes to the convention planning committee, describing the election as one of the most innovative electoral processes the party had ever undertaken since its inception in 1998.
“I believe we have learnt a lot from the conduct of this exercise and I also believe we can continue to improve on what has been achieved in the last few days in Port Harcourt,” he said.
“Let me also use this opportunity to pay tribute to the Governor of Rivers State, the Rivers State Government and the entire people of Rivers State for hosting this historic event. This event has gone without a hitch and this event has been very successful and all these would not have been possible without the personal commitment of Governor Wike, the government of Rivers State and the entire people of Rivers State. We thank you very much indeed; we appreciate you and we look forward to working with you so that our party can be returned to power in the next elections.
“Your Excellencies, we cannot afford to fail Nigerians at this very historic moment, because Nigerians are yearning for the return of PDP to power. They have now compared the administration of PDP and that of APC and they know that under PDP, there were years of prosperity, unity, security and development and they have seen the gross mismanagement of the government of the APC and therefore, we have a wonderful opportunity to return PDP to power in this country.
“History has beckoned all of us at this point in time to make sure that PDP is returned to power. We have enumerated a number of challenges facing this country, over and over again. What we should now do in the next phase of our electioneering campaign is to proffer solutions to these challenges we have identified, and therefore, implore all participants, whether at state or local government or national elections to make sure that we proffer solutions to these challenges we have identified.
“It is not just enough saying that APC has failed, but we should, as a political party, proffer solutions to those challenges we have identified, which will make us completely different from the clueless government of the APC. By the time we start electioneering campaign, I believe Nigerians will yearn for our return.
“My hope is that when we eventually get to power, we should improve on what has been done in the last few days. Let us not get intoxicated by power and begin to roll back these electoral successes that we recorded at this point in time.”
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