Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said he defeated Senate President Bukola Saraki, former governor of Kano State, Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in an online poll conducted by popular blogger, Japheth Omojuwa.
Atiku who is seeking the ticket of the PDP ahead of the 2019 general elections said in a statement on Wednesday by his Media Office that the poll was conducted in the wake of mass defection of APC members to the PDP including those eyeing the opposition’s presidential ticket.
"In the Twitter online poll which ended on Tuesday, Atiku Abubakar polled 42 per cent compared to Saraki’s 37 per centand Kwankwaso’s 15 per cent with the other candidates settling for 6 per centof the votes.
"The poll was conducted on the heels of the defections of a sizeable number of Senators and members of the House of Representatives from the ruling APC to the PDP ostensibly to gauge the popularity of the defectors with presidential ambition versus Atiku as far as the PDP ticket is concerned."
"Kwankwaso, who is known to have presidential aspiration decamped to the PDP on Tuesday along with several others. However, Saraki has not defected to the opposition party though there are indications that he will follow suit. Atiku had earlier in December of 2017 rejoined the PDP, a party he had helped found at inception in 1998.
"Voters were asked: ‘Who will emerge the PDP candidate for 2019?’ The choices were listed as Bukola Saraki, Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Other (Reply with name).
"This is one in a series of polls in which Atiku has come out tops. In a massive online poll that attracted almost 30,000 votes, Atiku vanquished President Muhammadu Buhari and other likely PDP contenders – Governors Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo and Aminu Tambuwal of Gombe and Sokoto states respectively. The poll was conducted by Senator Ben Murray-Bruce.
"In answer to the question ‘If the 2019 Nigerian Presidential election were to hold today and the candidates are as below, who would you vote for?’, 44% said they would vote for Atiku Abubakar. This compares to 31% for President Buhari, 17% for Dankwambo and 8% for Tambuwal.
"This result is also consistent with a number of recent polls, including those done by well known supporters of President Buhari, who had following the third anniversary of the administration on May 29 initiated polls ostensibly to test the popularity of the incumbent President," the statement said.
