Barely 24 hours after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) opened the doors for the sale of nomination forms to aspirants for the 2023 general elections, the North East Business Forum purchased the presidential nomination form for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Speaking shortly after receiving the presidential form, Atiku recalled that some young men put their money together in 2019 to buy the nomination form for him, adding that “Now again today like the chairman of the Northeast Business Forum said, we were invited and another gesture was extended to me.”
Atiku lamented that the country’s present challenges are enormous as he said; “Our unity is threatened, our economy is in the worst state of affairs, since the inception of this country, our security is a disaster, these are very serious challenges.
“These are challenges that require the unity of everybody in this country.”
The PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) had on Wednesday at its 95th meeting issued timetable and guidelines for the conduct of its primaries for all elective positions.
It also fixed N40m for its presidential nomination and expression of interest form.
The Forum’s chairman, Alhaji Dalhatu Funakaya, while presenting the forms to Atiku in Abuja, said they had pleaded with Atiku in November last year in Gombe State to contest for president in 2023 and promised to pay for his nomination form.
“We made a pledge in Gombe in November 2021 and we called on him to contest and pledged to purchase nomination form for him.
“We have fulfilled our side of the bargain and hope the former vice president will formally declare to contest the 2023 presidential election,” he said
