Delegates, food vendors, traders in various consumables, stickers and caps have set up canopies around the Adokiye Amasiemaka Stadium, venue of the 2018 National Convention of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondents at the venue report that some of the delegates have also been sleeping in vehicles parked within the open spaces around the stadium since Oct. 5.
Similarly, posters of the 13 aspirants jostling for the party’s Presidential ticket at the Convention conspicuously adorned streets leading to the stadium.
The aspirants are: Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Sen. Bukola Saraki; Ibrahim Dankwambo;Rabiu Kwankwaso; Aminu Tambuwal; Ahmed Makarfi; and Jonah Jang.
Others are: Sen. David Mark; Sule Lamido; Atahiru Bafarawa; Tanimu Turaki; Datti Baba-Ahmed; and Stanley Osifo.
The presence of Nigeria Police personnel and sister security agencies were also noticeable at the stadium gates and around the stadium to maintain law and order.
Praise singers with various musical instruments professing the virtues of their candidates also thronged the venue.
Accreditation of delegates had not started at the time of filing this report.
A delegate, Alhaji Kure Aminu, told NAN at the Sokoto State pavilion that delegates from the state were ready for the convention, saying that Tambuwal, who is also from Sokoto State, would win.
Delegates from Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo separately told NAN that they were voting for aspirants they believed would win the 2019 presidential election on the platform of the PDP.
Garba Iliyasu, a delegate from Bauchi State, also expressed confidence that PDP would win in the 2019 elections. (NAN)