Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

Barely a day after the emergence of former head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as the Presidential flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress, Rivers State Governor, Chubuike Rotimi Amaechi, has described him as the change that Nigeria urgently needs in order to move forward.

Gov Amaechi

Amaechi, who took to his twitter handle to air his view, said that the emergence of Buhari also represented the emancipation of Nigerians from the shackles of the ruling People’s Democratic Party.

The governor, who is one of the names being mentioned as a likely running mate to Buhari, wrote: “Our emancipation from the evil shackles of PDP is near. APC with Gen. Buhari represents the change we all earnestly seek.

“APC+GMB=CHANGE,” Amaechi tweeted.

In the keenly contested primary in Lagos, which lasted about 48 hours, Buhari won with a clear lead of 3430 votes. Kano Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso came second with 974 votes followed by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar with 954 votes.

The choice of a running mate for Buhari is the next item of interest as President Goodluck Jonathan has already named his vice as his running mate, putting to rest suggestions that he intended to drop him for one of the Northern governors.