Wada, Awoniyi, Olafemi say Atiku’s win victory for democracy

Former Governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada and his Deputy, Yomi Awoniyi, have described the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abukar as victory for democracy.

They stressed that the development was an act of God and a sign that there was another chance for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019.

At the presidential primary election held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State over the weekend, Atiku polled 1,532 votes to defeat his closest rival, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal who polled 693 votes, to emerge the party’s candidate.

Wada, who spoke in a telephone interview with The Guardian in Lokoja yesterday, congratulated the winner, the aspirants, delegates and the PDP.

“It is a great day for democracy in Nigeria and for PDP, a new level of transparency and democracy. It is too early to talk about how the race would be, all the PDP stakeholders have to sit together with the winner to take a look at the battle ahead and work together for us to benefit from this triumph.”

Awoniyi expressed gratitude to God for the wisdom exhibited by the PDP, saying: “Atiku is the right person for the party at this time. He crisscrossed the length and breadth of the country, he did very well and the people have spoken.”

Also, a former Acting Governor of the state, Clarence Olafemi said Nigeria needed to change the change being propagated by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“We have just put a round peg in a round hole. We will work for him, not because he has the resources, but because he has the cognate experience,” he said.

On the fear of rigging as it happened in the Osun governorship election, he said the general election was bigger, adding that what happened in Osun was because it was an isolated case.

“You can deploy all the police to Osun State but in the general election, there is no way you can rig in all the states and in all areas,” he added.