Atiku and Buhari to square up to each other next year as they win PDP and APC primaries

FORMER vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is to face President Muhammadu Buhari in next year's presidential elections after he emerged as the candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) following its convention in the Rivers State capital Port Harcourt.

After a tight and bruising contest, Alhaji Atiku emerged tops with 1,532 votes beating off a stiff challenge from 11 other candidates. Sokoto State governor Aminu Tambuwal came second with 693 votes, while senate president Senator Bukola Saraki emerged third with 317 votes, former Kano State governor Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso came fourth with 158 votes, while Gombe State governor Hassan Dankwambo came fifth with 111 votes.

President Buhari for his part was adopted unanimously by his All Progressives Congress (APC) at their Abuja convention, getting the endorsement of 14,842.072 delegates. At the APC convention which held at the Eagles Square Abuja, President Buhari was overwhelmingly returned as the party's sole presidential candidate and in his acceptance speech promised not to betray the public trust vested in him.

Several other smaller parties also nominated their presidential candidates yesterday, with the Africa Action Congress electing Omoyele Sowere, the Social Democratic Party electing former Cross River State governor Donald Duke, the National Interest Party electing Eunice Atuejide, the Young Progressive Party electing Kingsley Moghalu and the Yes Party electing Ali Soyode. In the states, gubernatorial, National Assembly and state houses of assembly candidates were also elected yesterday.

In what was a very busy day for Nigeria, several contests ended in rancour with some party members, particularly in the PDP and APC, crying foul. many of them accused their party hierarchies and governors of imposing candidates upon them, forcing contestants to stand down and even appointing their favourites without any elections taking place.

There are currently 91 political parties in Nigeria and the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) have given them until October 7 to conduct their primaries and resolve any issues that arise from them. Under Inec's election timetable, the last day for submission of lists of sponsored candidates and personal particulars forms is October 18 for the presidential and national assembly elections and November 2 for governorship and state houses of assembly polls.

Although there are a high number o candidates running for the presidency, political commentators expect the battle to be a two-horse race between President Buhari and Alhaji Atiku. Both men have clashed repeatedly in the past as they both stood for the 2007 presidential elections which President Umaru Yar'Adua won, with President Buhari coming second and Alhaji Atiku coming third.

In 2014, both men were on the ballot paper when the APC conducted its presidential election primaries and in that poll, President Buhari emerged tops with 3,430 votes. Senator Kwankwaso and Alhaji Atiku got 974 and 954 votes respectively, while Imo State governor Rochas Okorocha got 624 votes and publisher Sam Nda-Isaiah scored 10 votes.

Come February next year, however, the race is expected to be tight as President Buhari has suffered from a drop in popularity over his failure to address insecurity, the inability of the government to create jobs and the perceived nepotism of his government. Alhaji Atiku, who has promised to only serve for one four-year term, has said he will restructure the country, eradicate Boko Haram and end insecurity.

All eyes will now be fixed on who Atiku will name as his running mate, with some big names said to be under consideration. Among those thought to be on his list include former Anambra State governor Peter Obi, former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu.