A stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Bola Tinubu, has been declared as the winner of the party’s presidential primary held at Eagle Square, Abuja.
Tinubu, who is in his 70s, will be slugging it out with another septuagenarian and flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Atiku Abubakar.
The APC presidential candidate polled a total of 1, 271 votes to beat a former minister of transportation Rotimi Amaechi, who scored 316 votes, the vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, 235, and the senate president, Mr. Ahmad Lawan, 152 votes.
Other contestants for the coveted ticket were Messrs Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, Tunde Bakare, Ahmed Rufai, Rochas Okorocha, Jack Rich, Ben Ayade, David Umahi, Ahmed Yerima, Ahmed Lawan, Osinbajo, Amaechi, Yahaya Bello and Ogbonnaya Onu.
Nine aspirants had earlier stepped down, eight of whom asked their supporters to vote for Tinubu, while one asked his supporters to vote for Osinbajo.
Those who stepped down before voting began were Messrs Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa State governor), Robert Boroffice, Ken Nnamani, Ibikunle Amosun, Dimeji Bankole, Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti State governor) and Godswill Akpabio.
They ‘donated’ their supporters to Tinubu, while a US-based contestant, Pastor Felix Nicholas, stepped down and asked his supporters to vote for Osinbajo.
Before voting, Tinubu had spoken about his “corporate leadership” and “financial expertise” which he said equip “me the requisite skills to accelerate progressive reforms that will change the face of the national economy.”
A total of 2,260 delegates voted in the presidential primary.
A rundown of states and their respective accredited delegates are as follows: Abia – 50; Adamawa- 62; Anambra- 63; Bayelsa- 24; Bauchi- 55; Benue- 64; Borno- 81; Cross River- 54; Delta- 73; Enugu- 51; Ekiti- 48; Edo- 54; Ebonyi- 38; FCT- 80.
Others are Gombe- 33; Imo- 81; Jigawa- 81; Lagos- 60; Plateau- 51; Katsina- 102; Kebbi- 63; Kwara- 48; Kogi- 63; Kaduna- 61; Kano- 126; Nasarawa- 39; Niger- 75; Ondo- 54; Ogun- 60; Oyo- 99; Osun- 90; Rivers- 69; Sokoto- 69; Taraba- 46; Yobe- 51 and Zamfara- 42.
