“The corrupt are facing the wrath of the law and leakages have been generally blocked. We can be proud of our achievements. CHANGE has come.”

Muhammadu Buhari

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the chairman and members of the Convention Committee for planning and conducting this convention. The same appreciation goes to the chairmen of national and state executive committees of our party. Thank you very much for doing a difficult job well.

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I would like to pay tribute to Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, the first chairman of our great party, and to Chief John Oyegun, who led the party until this year, and all the APC governors.

The result of the presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress this time is different because I am the only candidate. I thank all other eli- gible candidates who deferred to me in the interest of our party’s unity and overall national stability.

It is with a deep sense of humility that I stand before you today to accept the nomination of our party, the All Progressives Congress, to be its candidate and flag-bearer in the 2019 presidential election.

As I stand today before you, there is no honour greater than the confidence given to me by all of you when you affirmed my nomination. I thank you for your support. I thank you for your guidance. I thank you for staying committed to the CHANGE agenda.

I accept this honour as a tribute and mark of confidence to carry the responsibility as we all join hands to continue the good work of the APC government to 2023 and beyond. We are very proud of our record from 2015 to date: We have arrested and checked the slide to anarchy on the security and economic fronts. Boko Haram is reduced to dastardly attacks on soft targets. Normalcy has returned to much of North East and neighbouring North West states. Our currency has stabilised. Our reserves are now $44 billion, a lot higher than we had in 2015. Power generation capacity has reached 8,000 megawatts against less than 4,600 when we came into office.

As we invest in new power generation infrastructure, we are strenuously working to address the legacy deficiencies and challenges of transmission and distribution networks across the country. We are executing Independent Power Projects in nine federal universities to deliver uninterrupted power supply and we intend to expand to a total of 37 universities. We have revived most of our capacity to produce fertilizers locally. The government, through its Anchor Borrowers Programme and other incentives, has empowered more than two million farmers to go back to the land. We now produce 80 percent of our rice requirements. Many farmers who nearly lost hope are now millionaires. We have introduced primary school feeding programmes to encourage attendance and enrolment. We also have introduced the conditional cash transfer to help small and medium businesses, the men, the women and young people who drive our economy. We have repaired and are repairing major arterial roads and starting major railway projects with the aim of linking the 36 states with efficient road and rail transportation systems. We are attacking corruption head-on. With in- ternational support, we are recovering Nigerian stolen assets and applying them to infrastructural development.

Today, the corrupt are facing the wrath of the law and leakages have been generally blocked. We can be proud of our achievements. CHANGE has come. Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Nigerians, think how much PDP governments earned between 1999 and 2015. Think what they did with it. Infrastructure down! Security down! Eighteen local governments of Nigeria were under control of a hostile army of insurgents. Reserves depleted! Bankruptcy around the corner. What did they do with your money?

Internationally, Nigeria is now respected. My interaction with foreign heads of state and government has been very encouraging. The international community is very supportive of our efforts to put our country in order.

I thank you deeply for your support and confidence in me. I will not let you or the people of Nigeria down. On to victory in 2019!

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Buhari (APC), Abubakar (PDP)

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• President Buhari’s acceptance speech at APC National Convention

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IT’S TIME WE GET NIGERIA WORKING AGAIN

Atiku Abubakar

On this day, you have a most important decision in your hands. You must decide who will represent the PDP as our candidate for the President of Nigeria.

This election is one of the most important in the history of our republic. Four years ago, the people of Nigeria voted for change. Today, they are not happy with the change they received. The economy has slowed, bringing hardship across Nigeria, increasing hunger and poverty, farmers struggle, businesses close, and jobs are lost. All the while, our government has become less transparent and deaf to the voices of Nigerians.

It is time we get Nigeria working again. We need jobs, wealth creation for farmers and across the agriculture sector, along with security for every Nigerian so they may prosper.

This is why I ask for your support in seeking the PDP ticket. You are aware of my government service and just as importantly my long work in business helping develop the economy, creating jobs in agriculture, healthcare, and education.

With your support, together, we can truly get Nigeria working again. Upon election, I will work with you the delegates of the PDP and every Nigerian in each state to restructure and build the local infrastructure needed to grow the economy, create jobs and bring wealth to every Nigerian.

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• Atiku, PDP presidential candidate, delivered this speech before his victory in Port Harcourt