#ElectionBuzzNig’23
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has presented a Certificate of Return to the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Atiku Abubakar won the party’s presidential ticket during a special national convention held in Abuja on May 28 and 29, 2022, after scoring 371 votes to beat 11 other aspirants.
The PDP Presidential Flag bearer took to his Twitter handle @atiku to appreciate all well-wishers for their kind gesture of support and goodwill.
The love and unity shown by Governors of our great party, the @OfficialPDPNig, my worthy co-aspirants, the NWC, our leaders past and present, stakeholders and party faithful and supporters at the collection of my Certificate of Return as the PDP presidential candidate pic.twitter.com/fUh0XmDtod
— Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) June 1, 2022
He said, “Let me first thank the Organizing Committee for the convention under the leadership of the rock-solid Senator David Mark for putting together a rancor-free and successful convention.
“I want to thank especially the National Working Committee of our Party, led by the National Chairman, the unflappable Senator Iyorchia Ayu, for the excellent way he has steered this party’s affairs, including overseeing the successful convention.
“I am grateful that you kept your word and gave us contestants fair treatment despite your likely varying sympathies and what must have been a pressure-laden and challenging situation.
“Your integrity and even-handedness must be commended. I commend our party’s National Executive Committee for putting our party and our country first in its deliberations and decision-making.
“I thank all those who assisted my campaign in various ways to enable me to crisscross this vast country and make my case to our delegates and other party elders and members,” he stressed.
“My chairman, my dear friends, while I am excited and happy about this opportunity to bear our party’s flag, let us all remember that what just happened is a contest within a family to decide how to put our best foot forward.
“The main contest is the one to win the Presidency of our country for our Party,” the Presidential candidate said.
He called the entire PDP family and other supporters and sympathisers to work together to unify the party so that they could face the real opponents and defeat them in the elections and begin rescuing and rebuilding this country.
In his remarks, the chairman of the Party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, urged all party members to come together no matter the candidate they supported during the primary to support the party and the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Dr. Ayu assured members that the NWC would continue to work tirelessly because they were not elected to organize a successful convention alone and win the party’s presidency.
“You elected us to give you more governors. You elected us to take control of the two houses of the National Assembly.
“You elected us to win all the houses of assembly across the states, and we will continue to do just that by working with you, by calling on many of you to come and help us execute this objective because we can’t do it alone.
“The president that is coming in is tested and trusted. He will lead us to reunite the country. He will lead us to rebuild the economy.
“He will lead us to get rid of bandits and terrorists. He will re-enforce the armed forces. He will restore the country’s integrity in the international community.
“Today, we are a parried state but in the next 12 months, the entire world will respect Nigeria all over again,” he stressed.
“As we marched forward, we need all of you because each one of you had a supporter.
“We want you all to fuse into one happy political family. It is this family that will face the battle ahead. We have only started a journey. We shall end this journey sometime next year. By the first of June next year, we should take over power,” Dr. Ayu added.
Governors, governorship candidates, presidential aspirants, members of the Board of Trustees, members of the National Assembly, and critical stakeholders were present to witness the ceremony.
The event was held on Wednesday at the PDP National Secretariat, Abuja.
Suzan O.
