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He was supposed to
return from exile to pick a job as a senior aide of President Goodluck
Jonathan, but the decision of Nuhu Ribadu to seek the top job moves
closer to actuality when he emerged consensus presidential candidate of
the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) at the aprty’s national convention
held in Lagos on Friday.

Prior to the
convention, rumour was rife on the possible withdrawal of the other two
contestants vying for the party’s nomination, but this became real
during the programme as the duo of Attahiru Bafarawa and Saidu Malami
announced their withdrawal from the race.

Mr. Malami, whose
posters along with those of Mr. Ribadu were the only ones visible
outside the convention ground. But none of the teeming delegates within
the convention ground nor party supporters carried neither his nor
Bafawara’s posters and this had tongues waxing.

But all fears were
laid down as the three aspirants were called up to address the crowd
ahead of the election, with the former governor of Sokoto State the
first to announce his intention to withdraw.

Mr. Bafarawa, whose
party, the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), was one of the parties who
merged with ACN, said he never joined with intention of becoming the
president but to “build a strong party”. He said he wanted to be part
of the group that will capture power in April 2011, hence his
withdrawal. Mr. Malami followed in a similar manner.

He declared his
wholesome support for the man the party has chosen and withdrew his
candidature, saying he has been “assured that the dream will not be
changed.” He thanked the leadership of the ACN for giving him the
honour to campaign for the presidency.

As demanded by the
2010 Electoral Act, the party leadership then moved a motion to use a
voice vote from the delegates to affirm the party’s presidential
candidate. This motion was seconded by Muiz Banire, the legal attorney
to the ACN and a resounding YES! enveloped the Onikan Stadium, venue of
the convention.

Mr. Ribadu, using
his campaign motto “a new Nigeria is possible”, called Nigerians to
recall that “in the cold moments of our national discord, during the
civil war, we came together to forge a new beginning; the same spirit
was evident when we mustered the will and sacrifice to defeat military
dictatorship and restore democracy. Anytime we come together, no force
negative and retrogressive as they come can defeat Nigeria. We can do
it again,” he said, urging for a vote to get the ruling party out of
power.

Kayode Fayemi, the
Ekiti State governor who was also the chairman of the screening
committee, stated that “we (the ACN) were lucky to have three eminent
Nigerians who presented to us in clarity the possibility of a new
Nigeria. The two aspirants that stood down demonstrated why our party’s
policy in holding elective office is not that of do or die. They
demonstrated that there are several ways in which we can all serve our
nation. ACN will from Monday start campaigning for the agenda of
renewal, due process, and transformation.

ACN’s government at
federal level will ensure that Nigeria becomes a country that refuses
to be a bunch of joke in the comity of nations.”

With the song
‘Stand up for the champion’ by Right Said Fred playing loudly, all the
contestants and governors of the ACN joined Mr. Ribadu on the stage.
Adams Oshiomole, the governor of Edo State, warned Nigerians on the
essence of voting in the coming polls saying that “this time, its
either we make it now, or we will never make it again.”

The Lagos State
governor, Raji Fashola, decided to take a jibe at the ruling party,
which he described as the Poverty Development Party.

“Governors in
Lagos, Edo and Ekiti have shown that great leaders can affect the lives
of their people in less than four years,” he said and called on people
to register and vote immensely to get the PDP out of power.

“Their 12 years of being the largest party in Africa has brought
larger darkness, hopelessness and poverty to Nigeria than ever seen in
the nation’s half a century history. The battle to remove the Poverty
Development Party starts today,” he said.