INEC, ACPN kick as Ezekwesili ends presidential aspiration

Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Buhari Campaign Organisation (BMO) are picking holes in Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili’s decision to end her presidential aspiration few days to the election, report Tony Akowe,Vincent Ikuomola and Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja.

Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) presidential candidate Oby Ezekwesili yesterday incurred the wrath of her party, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and others yesterday.

INEC rejected the withdrawal, noting that it was done outside the window of opportunity granted to political parties contesting in the 16th February 2019 presidential poll.

73 candidates were listed for the election which is just 21 days away.

Besides, the commission said her withdrawal contravenes Section 35 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, which stipulated that a candidate can only withdraw from election 45 days to the poll.

Ezekweaili declared her intention to run for president last October.

The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, said her decision was also outside the commission’s timetable and schedule of activities for the general polls.

He said: “It is impossible for any presidential candidate to withdraw from the race now. According to the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2019 General Elections, the last day for withdrawal by candidates or replacement of withdrawn candidates by political parties was 17th November, 2018 for Presidential and National Assembly Elections.

“Therefore, the deadline for Ezekwesili or any candidate in that category to withdraw or be replaced has passed.”

Her party also disowned her, saying she merely wanted to use the party platform and ticket to lobby her way into a ministerial appointment in the next political dispensation.

The party also announced that it was endorsing President Muhammadu Buhari as its candidate for the February 16 Presidential election following the withdrawal of its candidate from the race without consultation with the leadership of the party.

The party’s National Chairman, who also doubles as the Vice Presidential candidate, Alhaji Ganiyu Galadima, also said Mrs. Ezekwesili should come and render account of the money she received while flying the party’s flag.

The party threatened to sue her if she refused to return all the party material and donations she received within the little time she was in the party.

The former minister yesterday morning announced her withdrawal from the presidential race to devote her time in building a coalition that would the defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Galadima said the former minister did not inform the party of her decision before making it public. He accused Ezekwesili of not showing any seriousness in her campaign.

”The reason for calling this press conference is to let the world know about the presidential aspiration of Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, which in actual fact, is not the truth.

”I have been put into confidence by one of her aide named Iyinoluwa Aboyeji that she only wanted to use the platform of the ACPN to negotiate to be Nigeria’s finance minister.

”This is why she does not deem fit to inform the party whose mandate she is holding. If you observe, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili is the only presidential candidate who was so militant in her campaign without any tangible thing on ground to indicate any seriousness in the prosecution of her campaign.

”No campaign secretariat, billboard or great commitment on ground to indicate any seriousness. It is on this ground that the ACPN is withdrawing support for her presidential aspiration and endorsing the second term bid of President Muhammadu Buhari to take Nigeria to the next level. We may take her to court during her brief sojourn.

”She must return whatever money she collected from people on behalf of the party, because whatever is given to her belongs to the party. Don’t forget that at the end of the day, as a party, we must render account to INEC, this is mandatory and it is in the Electoral Act.

”We want to use this medium to tell her that we are not unaware of the various accounts that herself and her personal aide have opened to generate funds.

“We are aware that monies were coming to her in droves but we didn’t know the successes of this funds, she should please come and render account to us.

”She should please come and render account to us and to come and give back to the party all that belongs to it, because without the party, nobody will give her any fund or donate anything to her,” he said.

Ezekwesili had said in a statement that her decision was the outcome of “extensive consultations with leaders from various walks of life across the country over the past few days. I deem it necessary for me to focus on helping to build a veritable coalition to ensure a viable alternative to the #APCPDP in the forthcoming elections.

“It is my ardent belief that this broad coalition for a viable alternative has now become more than ever before, an urgent mission for and on behalf of Nigerian citizens. I have therefore chosen to lead the way in demonstrating the much needed patriotic sacrifice for our national revival and redirection.

“I wish to state that over the past three months, I have been in private, but extended talks with other candidates to birth a coalition that would allow Nigerians to exercise their choice without feeling helplessly encumbered by the evil twins of #APCPDP.

“While the deliberations continued, I never hesitated for a moment in my willingness and determination to sacrifice my candidacy in order to facilitate the emergence of the envisaged strong and viable alternative that Nigerians could identify with in our collective search for a new beginning.

“My commitment to this promising political recalibration has been consistent and in consonance with my agreement, at the request of candidates under the Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT) arrangement in 2018, when I consented to supervise the internal selection process as an outside observer passionate about building an alternative force.

“However, despite resistance from the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria on these and other issues, I have decided that it is now necessary to show by action and example my determination on this issue by stepping down my candidacy so as to focus squarely on building the coalition to a logical conclusion.

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“We have no right to allow citizens give in to despair. We will #Fight4Naija together and prove to all that the mess, which the political class has now become, should not be allowed to destroy our spirits and nation. We are also determined to ensure that the message keeps resonating that our beloved country deserves better, and that we will get the best that we deserve.

“From last year, when I joined the presidential race, I made it clear to Nigerians that the country has always had a 20-year cycle of change – 1959, 1979, and 1999. As such, 2019 begins another 20-year cycle, and together with all Nigerians of good will, I stand ready to play my part to ensure that we do not miss this golden opportunity to sing a new song.”

Galadima’s allegations

baseless, says Ezekwesili

Ezekwesili described allegation by Galadima that she was never really serious about her presidential ambition as baseless.

In an interview with News Agency of Nigeria, her media aide, Mr Uzoma Ubabukoh, said Galadima’s claim that she was contesting to negotiate to be Minister of Finance was a figment of his imagination.

She claimed she withdrew from the race after due consultations with Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora.

Ezekwesili added that her decision to quit the race was informed by the need to help and build a coalition to stop the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from winning.

She said neither APC nor PDP could provide the kind of governance needed to reposition the country.

Few hours after Ezekwesili’s withdrawal from the race, Galadima called a news conference, saying Ezekwesili had not shown the commitment to be President from the beginning.

He alleged that the former minister was just in the race to negotiate to be Minister of Finance and that she had kept the party in the dark about her real intention.

Galadima added that the candidate had used the platform of the party to get funds from donors, which she had not spent to show commitment to her ambition.

He said the candidate’s decision to withdraw from the race was taken to sacrifice her personal interests for the country’s interest.

“All these allegations are figment of his imagination. They are baseless. The decision to withdraw from the race is in the interest of the nation. It should be the nation first before anything,” Ubabukoh said.

He said it was curious that Galadima, less than three hours after Ezekwesili’s withdrawal, endorsed Buhari and added that the action showed the ACPN Chairman had long had a personal agenda and never believed in the idea to disrupt the status quo in country.

BMO: she lacks capacity

to understand politics

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has said the sudden decision of former minister of education to pull out of the presidential race barely 23 days to the election is a clear indication that she lacks the capacity to understand the dynamics of Nigerian politics.

The group said the former minister must explain to Nigerians her real intention of joining the presidential race when she knew she had to capacity and intention to see the election through.

In a statement signed by Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group commended the ACPN on whose platform she was running for the Presidency for endorsing President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term in office.

The group said: “We are not surprised that she has opted out of the race because it was clearly out of her depth as a pseudo- activist and opportunist without real political clout and pedigree.

“Just like her former party acknowledged, the short-lived stint she had as a presidential candidate showed that she had nothing substantial to offer or contribute to political discourse beyond on-line rants and thoughtless invectives

“And because some of these invectives are often retweeted or liked by some of her 836,000  twitter followers, she began to delude herself as an alternative to a President that has a track record of integrity, consistency in patriotism, honesty and performance to prove his status as a true statesman and leader.

“Her forays into the real world of politics on the streets even saw Nigerians chanting Sai Buhari during one of her rare campaign outings.

“So it would be ideal for Ezekwesili to take a second look at the situation and throw her weight behind the President’s re-election bid rather than embarking  on another hopeless exercise of  building a coalition  against President Buhari that so far failed woefully.”

On ACPN’s decision to support President Buhari as its Presidential candidate, the group described it as a realisation of the values represented by the President and his efforts at putting the country firmly on the path to greatness.

It added that the party leaders including Ezekwesili’s erstwhile running mate Ganiyu Galadima have, through their action, shown that there is still honour among members of the political class in our great country.

The group said: “The party knows that there is no viable alternative to a President that has in only three and half years turned Nigeria into a large construction site after completing dozens of infrastructure project that were fraudulently abandoned by previous governments with impunity

“We don’t take this endorsement lightly as ACPN leaders could have offered to trade off their support for the type of filthy lucre that some portfolio political parties under a shadowy coalition got by endorsing a Presidential candidate that is not getting  favourable support from even his home  state of Adamawa, let alone from across the country.”

BMO said it was particularly elated that Galadima, who is also the party’s National Chairman, said he and his colleagues were joining the President to take the country to the next level and assured them that they would not be disappointed.

The pro-Buhari group also urged undecided Nigerians to take a cue from ACPN and reject plans by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stage a return to power at the centre and get another chance to create economic mess and social chaos among the people.

Planned coalition is

impossible, says DG VON

Voice of Nigeria (VON) Director-General Osita Okechukwu described the step taken by the presidential candidate of the ACPN as expected.

He said Ezekwesili’s planned collation to dislodge the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Poeples Democracy Party (PDP) would fail.

Okechukwu said the former Minister of Education belongs to a missionary political party not aiming to win power.

The VON boss said: “What Oby Ezekwesili doesn’t know is that in democracy like this. The successful ones are multiparty system with two dominant political parties. And that two party system. Her political party is regarded as missionary party. This is what the missionary parties do.

“She did not do anything different from a missionary party. I do not know the coalition that she is going to build that will dislodge the All Progressives Congress (APC), or the Poeples Democracy Party (PDP). It is not possible. If you go to Britain, it is a multiparty system with two dominant political parties. In the United States of American (USA), it is a multiparty system with two dominant political party. Go to Pakistan, it is the same thing. Brazil, India, they are all the same.

“If she had said that, she is going to build a coalition with the PDP, I would have said that she is trying to win political power. But since she singled out the two dominate political parties, then she is still taking missionary. She is missionary more than political.

“She did not do anything that is strange. But I congratulate her for her stand on making the society better. And that is what President Muhammadu Buhari is saying. He is investing on food production, adequate electricity supply, modern transportation, construction of federal roads. What all the missionary parties are saying is what President Muhammadu Buhari is doing.”