Former Nigerian Vice President and presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has said that he will not defect from the party even if he fails to secure the party’s presidential ticket for the 2019 elections.

Atiku, who is also the Wazirin Adamawa gave the assurance on Monday when he visited the national secretariat of the PDP in Abuja to formally inform the National Working Committee (NWC) of his intention to vie for the presidential ticket of the party

Accompanied by the Director-General of his campaign organization, Otunba Gbenga Daniels and several other party chieftains, Atiku solicited for a free, fair, credible and transparent presidential primaries in the party, promising to continue to discharge his responsibility to the party even if his bid fails.

His words: “Whether I become the presidential candidate or not, I want to assure you that I will always discharge my obligations to this party.

“If we can sustain the kind of primary that we had in Ekiti, there is no doubt that this party will be on its way to regaining the pre-eminence in power that we were known for.”

Responding, the National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus assured Atiku that under his watch, the party will ensure that it conducts free and fair elections, stressing that imposition and impunity in the party were now things of the past.

The PDP National chairman further rated the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari low over its poor handling of the anti-corruption war, management of the nation’s economy as well as his clamp down on members of opposition parties.

“The NWC and the National Executive Committee, NEC have vowed to return this party to power in line with the vision of the founding fathers. That is why we rebranded and repositioned to remove every shades of impunity or imposition.

“Our chapters now have more powers devolved to them by the national secretariat and we can assure you of a credible, free and fair primary. We will do more than we did in Ekiti,” Secondus affirmed.