Atiku Abubakar wins the PDP primaries and becomes the main opposition candidate for the Nigerian Presidency

MADRID, 29 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former vice president of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar has validated the forecasts that granted him victory in the primaries of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), the main opposition formation in Nigeria, and thus becomes his candidate for the Presidency in the 2023 elections.

Abubakar has won 341 of the 810 votes at the party's congress, held in Abuja, in which he has defeated important contenders such as the governor of the state of Rivers, Nyesom Wike, second in the vote with 237 supports, according to the media. Nigerians.

"Today we are writing another story, one that will bring about fundamental changes in governance and also in our political processes," said Abubakar, 75, who has made the fight against "economic challenges" a priority, which he blamed on the party of Government, the All Progressives Congress (APC), reports Bloomberg.

The APC led by the country's president, Muhammadu Buhari, also planned to hold its primaries this weekend, but has decided to postpone the call for seven days after learning that the Electoral Commission has decided to extend the deadline for the presentation of the list of candidates from political parties.

The current vice president of the country, Yemi Osinbajo, leaves with all the ballots to become the party's candidate for the Presidency, without ruling out other names such as his former mentor and national party leader, Bola Tinubu, or the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi.

Abubakar ran against Buhari in 2019 and won 41 percent of the vote, to the president's 56 percent. The 2023 elections will be the sixth election for what was former President Olusegun Obasanjo's vice president for eight years, after Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999.

The elections are interpreted as a turning point in a country in which the population is asking for new blood to devise new strategies against the bloodthirsty jihadist organization Boko Haram, one of the most dangerous on the continent, and the groups of "bandits" and looters that devastate the northwest of the country, not to mention the intensification of separatist movements, land conflicts and the increase in inflation and registered unemployment in recent months.