Pius Anyim, one of the presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the just concluded presidential primary of the party has accused the party delegates of voting based on sentiments.
Mr Anyim stated this in a statement on Sunday.
During the PDP presidential primary, on Saturday, former Nigeria’s Vice President, Atiku Abubakar emerged winner in the exercise.
Mr Abubakar polled 371 votes to defeat his closest rival, Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State who secured 237 votes in the keenly contested primary of the party on Saturday.
A total of 767 delegates were accredited for the exercise.
But, the former Secretary to the Government of Federation, who garnered 14 votes, said he was shocked to observe that consideration for the voting was not based on burning national issues.
“I am proud to have gone through the race to the end. However, I am shocked that consideration for voting the PDP presidential candidate was not based on burning national issues and how to resolve them, but still on the old primordial sentiments,” Mr Anyim said.
“It appears doubtful if our search for nationhood is yielding any results,” he added.
The former Nigeria’s Senate President, however, congratulated Mr Abubakar on his emergence as the party’s candidate ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Mr Anyim expressed gratitude to his supporters and those who voted for him during the exercise assuring that he would continue to stand tall until a “new Nigeria of our collective dreams is birthed.”
He also commended the party’s convention committee for “doing a great job” in conducting the exercise.
On Friday, barely 24 hours to the primary, Mr Anyim had raised an alarm over the absence of delegates from Ebonyi State in the party’s delegate list.
But the former presidential aspirant was silent on whether the delegate list was later rectified by the party leadership before the exercise.
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