The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed confidence in winning the 2023 presidential election, as he has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari assured him personally of a free and fair poll.
Atiku said he met with President Buhari twice on the matter, in an interview with Financial Times (FT) newspaper of London.
“I’ve gotten a commitment from the President personally, because I sat down with him twice, that even if it is the only legacy he will leave, he will make sure he conducts free, fair and credible polls,” Atiku said.
The former vice president also said that, if elected President in 2023, he plans to form a government of national unity that would include opposition politicians.
In response to if there could be a job for the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who was his running mate in 2019, Atiku responded: “Why not?”
When asked in what capacity, he said: “Let’s win the elections before thinking of roles people can play.”
According to the British daily newspaper, Atiku is still stung by his 2019 defeat, an election many expected to be a close race but ended with Buhari’s re-election by almost four million votes, extending his margin of victory from the previous poll.
However, Atiku insisted that the 2019 presidential election was rigged in Buhari’s favour.
“All well-informed sources believe I was rigged out,” he said.
He added that the 2023 elections would be difficult to manipulate because of reforms, including the electronic transmission of results, by the electoral commission that have been deployed in recent gubernatorial elections.
