President Bola Tinubu yesterday reached out to critics after winning the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket, reportedly polling a massive 10.9 million votes at Saturday’s direct primaries.
After receiving his Certificate of Return in Abuja, Tinubu urged unity and promised tougher security measures. “To those who may disagree with us politically, we extend a hand of partnership in nation-building. To those who differ with our philosophy, we offer dialogue and engagement, confident that the sincerity of our purpose and the results of our work will speak for themselves. Democracy is sustained not by uniformity but by diversity, by a shared belief in the nation and the blending of ideas,” he said, adding, “I owe you no grudge, including Osifo, who spent his money.”
Tinubu listed achievements: an Education Loan Fund with over N282 billion disbursed to 1.5 million beneficiaries; 2.5 million meters supplied under the Presidential Metering Initiative; a N4 trillion bond to settle legacy power debts; power generation peaking at 6,000MW; a stronger naira and rising foreign reserves; large infrastructure and port upgrades; and social investment programmes.
APC said 12,643,316 members were registered, 11,069,756 accredited and 11,015,665 votes cast. Surprisingly, there were no void votes. Party figures show Tinubu beating lone challenger Stanley Osifo — who paid N100 million for the nomination form — by a huge margin (Osifo polled about 16,504 votes). State tallies reported landslides in Lagos (Tinubu 814,988; Osifo 1,186), Kaduna (618,914; Osifo 0), Kano (500,852; Osifo 2,675) and many others.
APC chairman Netawe Yilwatda hailed the turnout as a preview of 2027, while former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim praised the party’s direct primary: “By this ground-breaking model, the APC has become the first political party to adopt the direct primary election model for its presidential primary election.” Enugu Governor Peter Mbah called the exercise “rancour-free and transparent.”
