Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) endorses Atiku Abubakar

H.E Atiku Abubakar

45 political parties under the aegis of the Coalition of United Political parties (CUPP) endorsed Atiku Abubakar and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as its consensus candidate.

The CUPP made the decision after a closed door meeting at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja on Wednesday, December 5, 2018.

Speaking at a world press conference, the CUPP convener and former Governor of Osun state, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola said Atiku met the various criteria set for the selection of a consensus candidate.

According to him, “I welcome all of you to this very important General meeting of the Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP. You will recall that at the inauguration of the steering committee of the CUPP, we were saddled with the responsibility to midwife and supervise the selection of a joint presidential candidate for the coalition.

“In furtherance of this objective, therefore, the steering committee invited all political parties in the coalition to forward to us memoranda detailing their suggested ideas on how the candidate of the coalition should emerge and the criteria to use.

 “The response was very impressive and rich. The steering committee, which as you all know has every coalition party represented in it, distilled the suggestions., the aggregate of which was used to arrive at the result we are about to submit today.”

Criteria for selection

 

He also said “However, before we go into the results, ladies and gentlemen, it is necessary to first enumerate the identified criteria we used in arriving at the choice of presidential candidate for this coalition. In other words, we graded the candidates of all the parties using these criteria;

“The national acceptability of candidate and party, strength of the structure of candidate and party across the country, competitiveness of the candidate’s party vis a vis our major challenger – the APC.

 “Financial strength of candidate and party, access to financial resources, capacity and readiness to prosecute the election across the about 120,000 polling units in the country.”

“Competence, capability, and credibility of the candidate, acceptability of candidate locally and internationally, candidate’s experience in administration, management of economy and politics.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, after a painstaking assessment of what we have across the coalition parties and after processing the candidates’ suitability using these criteria, the steering committee hereby submits that a former Vice President and candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is the best and his party the most virile of all the options before us. We therefore chose ‘him as the CUPP candidate for the 2019 Presidential election."

Oyinlola also called on members on members of the CUPP to hit the ground running, adding that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has commenced.

“We have come a long way in this journey. The campaigns have started. The gloves are off and we must hit the ground running. Our main challengers are already in war mood, they have launched what they called THE NEXT LEVEL.”

“We must prove to them that we are the masters in this enterprise and tell them that the Nigerian people would not follow them (the APC) to THE NEXT EVIL scheme they have designed for our country. Millions of our suffering compatriots are looking up to us for deliverance and we must not disappoint them.”

“I thank you all for the confidence reposed in us. I thank the steering committee members for the great sacrifice they made in meeting every Wednesday since the inauguration weeks ago. It is all in the service of our country. My prayer is that Almighty God will crown our efforts with success. We shall be victorious; we shall not be put to shame.“

“There is, however, the imperative of taking the letter and spirit of our MOD down to the state level. A deep appraisal of the recent governorship election in Osun State will tell any discerning mind that it would have been very difficult for the APC to do what it did if the opposition had presented a common front.”

“Indeed, opposition votes combined in the Osun state election, where about 500,000 – almost doubling those of the ruling APC which scored 255,505 votes. So, our suggestion is that whatever we are doing with the presidential ticket should be done in all states for all positions for the good of our people.”

“The modalities can be worked out based on the peculiarities and political realities of each state. We must all realize the fact that it is better and wiser to win together than to lose together,”Oyinlola said.

It should be noted however that Atiku Abubakar emerged as the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate during the party’s national convention which held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.