The Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and four other yet-to-be disclosed candidates might have been listed by the Coalition of United Political Parties for consideration as joint candidate of the Alliance for the 2019 presidential elections.
About 40 political parties had on July 9, at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to present a joint presidential candidate in 2019 to brighten the chance of the opposition in the bid to wrest power from President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
A member, CUPP Candidate Selection Committee, Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), disclosed this in a statement issued in
Lagos.
The presidential candidate of the PDP came out in front on the early ballot followed by very four strong contenders”
“Given that the main thrust of the coalition is to win the 2019 presidential elections through a process of joint collaboration, CUPP has shortlisted five presidential candidates to be considered for selection as the joint candidate of the opposition parties in the 2019 presidential elections.
“The presidential candidate of the PDP came out in front on the early ballot followed by very four strong contenders”, the statement said.
Agbakoba also disclosed that there was a certain criterion followed by the party in shortlisting the candidates.
“The criteria for shortlisting the five candidates was based on agreed terms by members of CUPP, included National Spread and Structure, experience, public office holders such as Governors, National Assembly, etc, financial capacity, organisation strength of parties, capacity to man the 120,000 polling units across Nigeria, etc,” it added .
Agbakoba stressed that the party members were committed to presenting a joint candidate for the 2019 elections while looking forward to establishing a coalition government .
