Businessman and contender for the All Progressives Congress presidential ticket, Stanley Osifo, on Sunday said his defeat in the party’s primary will not deter him from working for its success in the 2027 elections, adding that “God knows better.”
“I think God knows better, and God knows tomorrow,” Osifo said when he spoke exclusively to our correspondent immediately after the collation and declaration at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, Abuja.
He polled 16,503 votes against President Bola Tinubu’s 10,999,162 in the nationwide direct primary conducted across 8,809 wards on Saturday.
Asked if he was satisfied with the outcome, Osifo said: “I’m not okay with the outcome of the results. And I’m working with the party, I’m working with the candidate of the party as well. I have no problem with it.”
He said his decision to purchase the N100 million nomination form and contest the primary was not an act of personal rivalry with Tinubu but part of a legitimate internal party process.
“We are one party, we are members of the All Progressives Congress, we are one family.
“So we are not challenging ourselves. What we did was to have within ourselves who will become the candidate of the party.
“So where we are now, we have that already today,” he said.
On Tinubu’s statement that he bore no grudge against him, Osifo said the sentiment was mutual.
According to him: “That is why we are working together. We are one party, so we must work together. Nobody is an island.
If you lost sleep, weight, I’ve lost some too, Tinubu admits hardship
“Even if I had become the candidate today, I cannot work alone. I need a team.
“So offering an olive branch is something that everybody would want to support the president for.”
He also expressed gratitude to his supporters across the country.
Osifo said: “My supporters that voted for me, including those clapping for me, I want to deeply express my gratitude to them. It’s not been an easy task.
“We have 36 states in Nigeria including the FCT, 37, and we have coordinators in all the states, in all the local governments, in all the wards. They have done marvellously well.”
He added, “I am a very young man. I have a lot of years ahead of me, so it’s possible for things to happen.
“But I think God knows better, and God knows tomorrow.
“So let’s just hope on God and work as we move forward.”
Osifo had purchased the nomination form after a planned consensus arrangement collapsed, becoming the only aspirant to formally contest against President Tinubu.
He reportedly scored zero votes in several states, including the FCT, Delta, Kogi, Ebonyi and Jigawa.