Buhari bested former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Kwankwaso, current Governor of Kano State, Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, and Sam Nda-Isaiah, publisher of Leadership newspapers, to secure the bid.
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) this evening at the All Progressives Congress (APC) convention in Lagos won the presidential primary to carry the party’s flag at the 2015 presidential election to be held on February 15th 2015.The former Head of State Vice President grabbed (the majority of the vote)3,430 votes to beat former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, scored 954 votes while Governor Rabi’u Kwankwaso of Kano State got 974 votes.
Governor Rochas Okorocha scored 624 votes while the Publisher of Leadership Newspapers, Sam Nda-Isaiah, got 10 votes.
Sixteen votes were considered invalid and were therefore voided.
A total of 7,214 delegates were accredited to vote at the convention attended by the leaders of the opposition party.
Mr. Buhari, 72, was Nigeria’s military leader between December 31, 1983 and August 27, 1985.
With his victory, Mr. Buhari, a retired military general, will now face President Goodluck Jonathan, whose adoption was ratified by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at its special convention in the early hours of Thursday, in the February 14 presidential election.
Earlier in the day, there were reports that some of the candidates had withdrawn from the race in favour of General Buhari, but they were later dismissed as false. The negotiations are thought to have delayed the start of the convention, which began at the Teslim Balogun Stadium venue hours later than expected.
More reports shortly