Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party has selected President Goodluck Jonathan as its candidate in April's presidential election.
In Thursday's party vote, Mr. Jonathan won 2,736 votes, compared to 805 for former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. Only one delegate voted for veteran politician Sarah Jibril.
On Friday, Mr. Jonathan accepted the nomination and appealed to Abubakar and Jibril to work with him in improving Nigeria. He said this is a time for the party to unify and bring the country under the PDP banner.
Abubakar, a Muslim from Nigeria's north, has criticized Mr. Jonathan who is a Christian from the south for breaking a traditional power-sharing agreement for the presidency.
The PDP customarily rotates the presidency between a northern Muslim and southern Christian every two terms. However, Mr. Jonathan became president in May when President Umaru Yar'Adua, a Muslim, died just three years into what was expected to be an eight-year presidency. That caused some division in the party about whether it should nominate a northerner or southerner for the April race
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