By Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja
The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr. Donald Duke, has described his election as “democracy in action”.
The former governor of Cross River State polled 812 votes to defeat former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana, who scored 612 votes, to emerge presidential candidate of the party in the keenly contested election.
“Like I said in my speech earlier, this is not a popularity contest. What happened here is democracy in action.
“We all agree that our country is better than this. This is the first step in our journey. Our nation has to redeem itself to Nigerians and the world.
“We have to be what we ought to be. We will go round the country to campaign and reawaken Nigerians. All aspirants must work hand in hand to make it happen”, he said.
The presidential candidate stated that Nigeria “is a nation of common purpose. What divides us is inadequacy and want. If we as a people abide by regulations as it ought to be, we will be a great nation”.
Duke, said failure of leadership was the greatest challenge that faced Nigeria in the past 58 years.
He said Nigeria had fought a war in the the north-east that lasted more than the civil war yet nothing concrete had been done.
