Kola Abiola, the son of the presumed winner of June 12, 1993, presidential election, Bashorun MKO Abiola, has emerged as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) after winning the party’s primary.
Kola Abiola won with landslide votes against Senator Usman Bugaje, Patience Ndidi Key and Colonel Gboluga Mosugu (retired).
While Abiola got 2,096 from across the 36 States including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Bugaje came a distant second with 813 votes while Ndidi Key and Colonel Mosugu got 329 and 263 votes to emerge third and fourth in that order.
Speaking before the collation of the results which was witnessed by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), PRP national chairman, Alhaji Falalu Bello, said the delegates from the 36 states and the FCT voted for the aspirants from their respective states with permission from INEC to save cost.
The chairman of the Party said the aspirants had promised to support whoever wins the primaries.
Bello explained that the party decided not to zone its presidential ticket to any of the six geopolitical zones across the country but to look for a capable and competent candidate who enjoys wide acceptability across Nigeria.
While Ndidi Key is from the South South, Colonel Gboluga Mosugu hails from the North Central while Kola Abiola and Usman Bugaje are from the South West and the North West respectively.
Stakeholders at the forum who were on ground to witness the collation of result sent from the thirty six States and the FCT primaries accepted the outcome and promise to work for the party’s victory during the 2023 general elections in all the 36 states and Abuja.
With the outcome of the PRP presidential primaries, Kola Abiola thus is following in the footsteps of his late father, Bashorun MKO Abiola, who was the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) during the 1993 presidential elections almost 30 years after.