45 political parties under the aegis of the Coalition of
United Political parties (CUPP) endorsed Atiku Abubakar and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as its consensus candidate.
The CUPP made the decision after a closed door meeting at the
Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja on Wednesday, December 5, 2018.
Speaking at a world press conference, the CUPP convener and former
Governor of Osun state, Prince Olagunsoye
Oyinlola said Atiku met the various criteria set for the
selection of a consensus candidate.
According to him, “I welcome all of you to this very important General meeting of the
Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP. You will recall that at the
inauguration of the steering committee of the CUPP, we were saddled with the
responsibility to midwife and supervise the selection of a joint presidential
candidate for the coalition.
“In furtherance of
this objective, therefore, the steering committee invited all political parties
in the coalition to forward to us memoranda detailing their suggested ideas on
how the candidate of the coalition should emerge and the criteria to use.
“The response
was very impressive and rich. The steering committee, which as you all know has
every coalition party represented in it, distilled the suggestions., the
aggregate of which was used to arrive at the result we are about to submit
today.”
Criteria for selection
He also said “However, before we go into the results, ladies and gentlemen, it is
necessary to first enumerate the identified criteria we used in arriving at the
choice of presidential candidate for this coalition. In other words, we graded
the candidates of all the parties using these criteria;
“The national
acceptability of candidate and party, strength of the structure of candidate
and party across the country, competitiveness of the candidate’s party vis a
vis our major challenger – the APC.
“Financial
strength of candidate and party, access to financial resources, capacity and
readiness to prosecute the election across the about 120,000 polling units in
the country.”
“Competence,
capability, and credibility of the candidate, acceptability of candidate
locally and internationally, candidate’s experience in administration,
management of economy and politics.”
“Ladies and
gentlemen, after a painstaking assessment of what we have across the coalition
parties and after processing the candidates’ suitability using these criteria,
the steering committee hereby submits that a former Vice President and
candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is the
best and his party the most virile of all the options before us. We therefore
chose ‘him as the CUPP candidate for the 2019 Presidential election."
Oyinlola also called on members on members of the CUPP to
hit the ground running, adding that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has commenced.
“We have come a long
way in this journey. The campaigns have started. The gloves are off and we must
hit the ground running. Our main challengers are already in war mood, they have
launched what they called THE NEXT LEVEL.”
“We must prove to
them that we are the masters in this enterprise and tell them that the Nigerian
people would not follow them (the APC) to THE NEXT EVIL scheme they have
designed for our country. Millions of our suffering compatriots are looking up
to us for deliverance and we must not disappoint them.”
“I thank you all for
the confidence reposed in us. I thank the steering committee members for the
great sacrifice they made in meeting every Wednesday since the inauguration
weeks ago. It is all in the service of our country. My prayer is that Almighty
God will crown our efforts with success. We shall be victorious; we shall not
be put to shame.“
“There is, however, the imperative of taking
the letter and spirit of our MOD down to the state level. A deep appraisal of
the recent governorship election in Osun State will tell any discerning mind
that it would have been very difficult for the APC to do what it did if the
opposition had presented a common front.”
“Indeed, opposition
votes combined in the Osun state election, where about 500,000 – almost
doubling those of the ruling APC which scored 255,505 votes. So, our suggestion
is that whatever we are doing with the presidential ticket should be done in
all states for all positions for the good of our people.”
“The modalities can
be worked out based on the peculiarities and political realities of each state.
We must all realize the fact that it is better and wiser to win together than
to lose together,”Oyinlola said.
It should be noted however that Atiku Abubakar emerged as
the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate during the party’s
national convention which held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
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