Fela Durotoye emerges PACT consensus presidential candidate

• Promises to earn Nigerian trust and votes
• 16 aspirants step down for him

Presidential aspirant, Fela Durotoye, has emerged the consensus candidate of the Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT) group and he has promise that he would work to earn the trust of the people and eventually their votes.

Durotoye was unveiled as the consensus candidate of PACT on Thursday after the aspirants voted amongst themselves.

According to the former minister, Oby Ezekwesili, who observed the voting process, PACT adopted a two-stage voting system amongst the candidates. At the end of the vote, Fela Durotoye emerged the winner with four votes, while Kingsley Moghalu came second with three votes.

In a statement on his Twitter handle, after the vote, Durotoye said: “The 2019 elections will be a referendum between our past and our future; between the same old change and a New hope, the old and the young, politics and good governance, joblessness and jobs, between politicians and nation builders and between experience and expertise.

We don’t expect it to be easy. We will be held to higher standards than the establishment, our methods & intentions scrutinized more closely to determine if we are the same old wine, repackaged in new wineskins.

We assure you that we are nothing like what our nation has experienced over the last 58 years, but we will earn your trust, and eventually, your votes.”

Aspirants, who make up PACT include: Kingsley Moghalu, Yele Sowore, Dr Thomas-Wilson Ikubese, Ahmed Buhari, Tope Fasua, and Sina Fagbenro-Byron. Others include Eragbe Anslem, Jaye Gaskia, Mathias Tsado, Victor Ani-Laju, Alistair Soyode, Godstime Sidney Iroabuchi, Clement Jimbo, and Elishama Ideh.