THE national leadership of Accord Party (AP) has disowned Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim as its presidential candidate for next year’s general elections.
The party’s National Chairman, Maxwell Mgbuden, who disclosed this position in a statement in Abuja, called on the public to disregard the report naming Olawepo-Hashim as Accord’s presidential candidate, noting that purported primary where he reportedly emerged as candidate was not conducted by Accord and had no legal effect whatsoever.
Mgbuden clarified that the party had no presidential aspirant within the timeframe stipulated in its approved guidelines, timetable and schedule of activities communicated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He insisted that no aspirant purchased an expression of interest and nomination forms for the presidency before the deadline, forcing the party to cancel its scheduled primary, and “accordingly, the electoral umpire was duly notified of the cancellation of the party’s scheduled presidential primary election.”
Mgbuden stressed that Olawepo-Hashim expressed interest in contesting on May 26, after the expiration of the approved timeline for participation in the process, adding that the payments of N10million and N40million he made for the forms were received after the process had concluded, and “in keeping with transparency, accountability and due process, the party instructed its bankers to reverse the payments to the originating account.”
The party leader statd that eligibility for nomination requires compliance with all guidelines, including purchase and submission of forms and participation in the screening exercise, saying the absence of other aspirants did not confer automatic entitlement to nomination, reiterating that Accord currently has no presidential candidate for the presidential election.
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