The presidential candidate of PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has said he is confident of winning following the results that have trickled in so far.
Atiku, a former vice president, however, asked his APC counterpart, President Muhammadu Buhari, to prevail on some bigwigs in his party to ensure that nothing went wrong in the collation process.
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, Atiku commended Nigerians for turning out in large numbers to vote for him.
He said the initial indications from the PDP’s Simultaneous Vote Count (SVC) showed he would win the poll.
“I would like to sincerely thank the millions of people who, despite having to bear the additional burden of a postponed election, came out yesterday to vote for me and other PDP candidates standing in this election.
“With strong shares of vote in SS, SE as well as an increased share in SW and NC, we are very pleased with the progress the PDP has made. We look forward to sharing some exciting news in other parts of the country very soon, which will confound all the armchair pundits.
“The people of Nigeria can take solace that very soon the living nightmare of the last four years will come to an end so that together we will get Nigeria working again,” the statement said.
Atiku urged Nigerians to maximise their vigilance in the next 48 hours to prevent the majority votes recorded at the polling units from being “disrupted by force” by the APC at the collation centres.
“I am familiar with how brazen and the complete lack of shame the APC can exhibit, but even I was shocked to witness just how low they went last night by accusing the PDP of ‘recruiting armed thugs’ to do just that. Why would we want to do that when we are winning?” he asked.
Daily Trust