It is now very clear that president Goodluck Jonathan has won the PDP party primary on Thursday while the opposition coalition has equally voted Buhari as their flag bearer for the February presidential elections in Nigeria,
The forthcoming February 14 general election is no doubt expected to be the most closely contested since years of military rules that ended in 1999.
Jonathan was the sole candidate at the ruling party primaries though his election early Thursday which flouted an unwritten party rule that presidency should rotate between a Christian southerner, like himself, and a norther Muslim.
Dozens of ruling party legislators have defected over the issue, which has cost PDP its majority in the lower house of parliament.
Notwithstanding, Goodluck told the party faithful that they are getting stronger and are more in tune with the yearnings of the populace.
Both leading candidates of a four-party opposition coalition are Muslim northerners — former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari and a wealthy businessman and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar.
Some 8,000 delegates voted through the night and ballots were being counted Thursday.
The opposition accuses Jonathan, 57, of failing in the fight to contain an Islamic uprising that has killed thousands and driven some 1.2 million people from their homes.
Buhari, 71, a former army general, is touted as more likely to succeed in the fight against the extremists and is praised for fighting corruption while he was in power from 1983 to 1985.
Jonathan is accused of fueling corruption in an administration that has confronted one multimillion-dollar scandal after another.
In his acceptance speech, Jonathan said Nigeria’s GDP has grown from $35.9 billion when his party came to power in 1999 to $510 billion today.
From all indications however, Buhari is likely to be the challenger.
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