Ezekwesili escaped move to sack her, ACPN says, declares support for Buhari

The Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) has reacted to the withdrawal of its Presidential Candidate, Dr Oby Ezekwesili from the February 16 Presidential Elections.

ACPN said Ezekwesili only preempted the intended decision of the party to withdrew her and have her replaced with someone else, alleging that she only wanted to use the platform of the party “to negotiate to be Nigeria’s Finance minister.”

The party which made this known at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, revealed that it has decided to support the reelection bid of President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The National Chairman and running mate to Dr Ezekwesili, Alhaji Ganiyu Galadima, National Secretary, Chief Paul Isamede, Deputy National Chairman, South, Otunba Bosun Omosule and his counterpart for the North, Alhaji Ibrahim Goronyo, addressed the press conference.

They said, “She only preempted the decision we would have reached today which was to withdraw her candidacy and give to somebody else.

“Our presidential nomination ticket is N10 million and expression of interest is N500, 000 but when she came she said she did not have money, that she only had N100, 000 and because we wanted to encourage women, we gave her our platform.

“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. We have been put into confidence by several of her aides one of which is named lyinoluwa Aboyeji also known as Maureen, that she only wanted to use the platform of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria ACPN to negotiate to be Nigeria’s Finance minister. This she did not deem fit to inform the party whose mandate she is holding.

“If you will observe, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, is the only presidential candidate who was so militant in her campaign without any tangible thing on the ground to indicate any seriousness in the prosecution of her campaign. No campaign secretariat, billboard or great commitment on the ground to indicate any seriousness.

“It is on this ground that the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria 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.

READ ALSO: Ezekwesili abandons presidential race, throws weight behind PACT

“We also seek this medium to inform our former presidential candidate Dr Ezekwesili to return to the party all the property in her possession especially the various donations that she has been receiving from all over the world. Whatever she had received belongs to the party and we must render account to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC. So, it is mandatory. We are aware of all the accounts she and her aides had opened for this election to which donations were made.”

According to Isamede, when the party became worried and asked Ezekwesili why she was using the party platform to raise money that she showed them “a piece of paper and said there was $5000 in one account and then in another account, about N35 million in local donations and that if we wanted her to transfer it to the party’s account right away, she would do so. That was over a month ago”.

Ezekwesili’s withdrawal from the presidential race was announced on Thursday morning by the spokesperson for the Obiageli Ezekwesili Presidential Campaign Organization, Ozioma Ubabukoh.

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