Atiku, Buhari in tight race for APC’s ticket
• Party, PDP hold conventions • Kwankwaso, Okorocha, Nda-Isaiah also seek nod• Ruling party challenges rival to presidential debate, issue-based campaigns
• 11,070 delegates to elect candidates • Police, others ready for exercise
• Kano, Imo govs reserve senatorial, guber slots as fallback options
AHEAD of the 2015 polls, the ruling Peoples De-
mocratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) will today begin their two-day national conventions to elect their presidential candidates.
Meanwhile, the PDP has challenged APC to present whoever emerges as its standard bearer to a public debate with President Goodluck Jonathan.
Also, the Lagos State Police Command yesterday said it has deployed enough officers to provide adequate security during the APC’s convention.
Also, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC) said it had deployed its officers to assist in providing security during the event.
While Jonathan is the sole candidate of the PDP, the main contenders in the APC presidential race are former Head of State, Major-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), erstwhile Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, his Imo State counterpart Rochas Okorocha and Leadership Newspapers publisher, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, at a media briefing in Abuja yesterday, disclosed that a total of 3,073 delegates have been accredited to participate in its national convention which will begin today and end tomorrow.
Today’s aspect of the convention would ratify the appointment of the National Chairman of the party, Ahmed Adamu Muazu, the National Secretary, Adewale Oladipo, and National Auditor Adewale Adeyanju while the President’s affirmation as candidate will take place tomorrow.
The party invited the opposition party to issue-based campaign after the primaries, pointing out that it was time the culture of using propaganda and lies were deleted from Nigeria’s political landscape.
The ruling party boasted that it would inflict APC a “crushing defeat” in the February 2015 presidential election even if the latter put forward its best two aspirants as joint candidates.
PDP said: “We have a very good product to sell to Nigerians. President Jonathan will win the 2015 presidential poll based on his popularity. We are today sending notice to the opposition party, the APC to expect a crushing defeat at the poll.
“In view of our confidence, preparedness and the popularity of our candidate, we declare and urge the APC to put forward its two frontline aspirants in one pot, namely: Buhari and Atiku as joint presidential candidates with their collective credentials and followership to face President Jonathan. For us in the PDP, we are certain that with the grassroots support and love we enjoy from Nigerians across board, President Jonathan will secure an emphatic victory against any presidential candidate of the APC or all the candidates put together as one.”
Metuh added: “Let us elevate the conduct of this election. We will base it on who is best for this country in terms of unity of this nation, who is best to stabilise our public policy, who is best to lead us to prosperity. On those three and other issues we will debate with whoever is the candidate of APC.
“As a party, we are going into the conduct of our presidential primaries, in particular, with great excitement, knowing very well that we are keeping an appointment with the destiny of our nation as embodied by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan who is both president of our nation and candidate of our party on the occasion of our presidential primaries at the Eagle Square.
‘‘For us in the PDP, it is neither a matter of conjecture nor propaganda; we are certain that with the grassroots support and the love he enjoys from Nigerians across board, President Jonathan will secure an emphatic victory at the polls.”
According to the APC’s spokesman, Lai Mohammed, the convention will hold at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos and over 8,000 delegates drawn across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja would participate in the exercise.
“The five presidential aspirants are expected to address the delegates to explain their programmes before the commencement of voting, which he disclosed would be by secret ballot,’’ he said.
While he said the National Convention Committee (NCC) headed by former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi has put adequate arrangements in place for a hitch-free convention, Mohammed disclosed that the various sub-committees were also working round the clock to ensure success of the exercise.
He added that the party was also collaborating with relevant agencies to ensure effective security, crowd control, traffic management and medical attention among others.
The Guardian investigations, however, showed that Kwankwaso and Okorocha have reserved senatorial and governorship seats as fallback.
Okorocha allegedly used his son in-law and Commissioner for Land, Mr. Uche Nwosu, to hold the seat pending the outcome of the presidential primaries.
Although not in the open or official, investigation revealed that it was because of the arrangement that APC governorship primary election did not hold in Imo like other states some days ago.
The plan, according to the findings, is that if Okorocha loses out in the presidential contest today, he will leverage on the party’s national leadership to pick the governorship ticket and contest for a second term in office.
Just like Okorocha, Kwankwaso has also reserved the Kano Central senatorial ticket of the party as there was no primary election for the seat during the party’s national assembly primaries in the state.
Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO), Ngozi Braide, said: “We have enough men on ground who are adequately kitted for the primary.”
She told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN): “We know the responsibility for the process to be credible is rested on us. We are willing, as usual, to discharge that responsibility to the best of our ability just like we have been doing in all other elections.
“We know tomorrow’s election will be a bigger one and we expect more people to come into the state.
“We are deploying our full arsenal to make sure that the election is credible.” Also, Chibuzo Mefor, public relations officer, Lagos State Command of NSCDC, said the corps had deployed 500 officers to collaborate with the police to provide security.
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