Atiku’s Full Speech After Winning ADC Presidential Ticket

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has been declared winner of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential primary election held across the country.

Atiku was reported to have scored 1,846,370 votes to secure the party’s presidential ticket.

He defeated the former Minister of Transportation and ex-governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi who polled 504,117 votes.

The result was announced following the collation of votes from the party’s nationwide primary.

Following the declaration, Atiku said, “I wish to express my deep gratitude for the opportunity you have given me, to lead our great party, the African Democratic Congress, into the next elections as its Presidential Candidate. I am truly humbled and excited at this unique honour.

“We showed that there is democracy in the African Democratic Congress even as the ruling party and its oppressive and anti-democratic government are throttling and choking democracy. In our party, members are free to express their views, to have ambition and to contest for elective positions in a free, fair and transparent process.

“Our great party is a coalition built on hard work, huge sacrifices and compromises, led by our determination to rescue the democracy of our country which is under its biggest threat since the return to democratic rule in 1999.

“The leadership crisis in virtually all opposition political parties in the country today was engineered by the APC government, the INEC and some elements in the judiciary. And opposition figures continue to be harassed and intimidated, including those languishing in detention, such as Mallam Nasir El-Rufai who distinguished himself as a public servant, including as a Minister and two-term Governor of Kaduna State. Despite court orders granting him bail, he has been in detention for three months. Not only has he been denied the opportunity to be at his mother’s side as she took her last breath, but he’s also been denied the right to celebrate two major religious holidays with his family. All because he is a leading opposition figure! This is cruelty this has to stop.

“The government continues to harass, intimidate and coerce opposition politicians to join the APC through the security agencies as well as the agencies that were established by a previous government to fight corruption. In this government if you join the APC the harassment stops, the charges against you magically disappear. This abuse of power has to stop.

“We have taken great care in the process of forming this coalition to ensure due diligence was done. But the government and INEC keep undermining it, even to the extent of trying to de-register it. I want to also warn that any attempt to interfere in the affairs of the party by the Presidency, INEC and Judiciary will be fiercely resisted. That’s enough.

‘I congratulate my fellow contestants for this ticket to represent our great party in elections slated for early next year. I know that you are driven by your patriotism and your commitment to a better Nigeria and a better life for our people.

“I know you are as concerned as I am about the rapid plunge of our country into economic disaster, catastrophic insecurity, extreme nepotism, political intolerance and the push towards a one-party state by the current government and its party. I thank you for your positive contribution to this democratic process.

“I must say at this point, this is no time for celebration. We didn’t lose any of us because we’re one party and we all need to understand the fierce urgency of the moment. “Therefore we must come together as we promised before this process to work to pull our country and our people out of the destructive grip of a corrupt, incompetent and polarising APC government.

“I thank the Primary elections Committee for conducting peaceful, free, fair and transparent primaries. I thank the various leadership organs of our party, the various stakeholders and volunteers for their hard work and dedication and all our party members and supporters for their efforts, patience and conduct during the process.”

“With the primary season behind us, the real hard work is about to begin. “We must get ready to campaign hard to win the next general elections so that we can begin the hard work of rescuing our country and its long suffering people from this government.”