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Presidential hopefuls, former Central Bank deputy governor Kingsley Moghalu and the Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore have both rejected Fela Durotoye, as ‘their’ consensus candidate ahead of the 2019 presidential election.
Despite Fela Durotoye emerging as the consensus candidate of Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT), Moghalu has said that he is ‘pressing ahead’ with his plan to run for president in 2019.
The former United Nations official said the outcome of the consensus candidate of PACT has ‘left many Nigerians expressing surprise and disappointment.’
Young presidential aspirants including Moghalu came together to form a coalition to field a sole candidate for the Presidential election in 2019.
The candidate was elected after a two-staged voting process that saw Durotoye score 4 votes and Kingsley Moghalu, 3 Votes.
However, Moghalu has claimed dissatisfaction with the election process citing the withdrawal of candidates from the process as his reason for pulling out of the PACT.
“Only seven aspirants participated in the final voting out of the original 18 aspirants, mainly because many of the aspirants had withdrawn from the process.”
He further stated that PACT did not produce a truly consensus candidate because more candidates pulled out during the voting process.
“Four candidates who were present in the meeting this morning withdrew from the process even while the voting process was ongoing.”
The list of PACT aspirants include Moghalu, Durotoye, Yele Sowore, Dr Thomas-Wilson Ikubese, Ahmed Buhari, Tope Fasua, Sina Fagbenro-Byron, Eragbe Anslem, Jaye Gaskia, Mathias Tsado, Victor Ani-Laju, Alistair Soyode, Godstime Sidney Iroabuchi, Clement Jimbo, Elishama Ideh amongst others.
The lawyer referred to a clause in the PACT Memorandum of Understanding that gives him the constitutional right to pursue his political ambition.
The Young Progressive Party (YPP) presidential aspirant emphasised the need to unite Nigeria, wage war against poverty and unemployment, and the restoration of respect for Nigeria in the society of nations as his ideals.
Moghalu concluded that he will pursue his vision in ‘deference to the overwhelming outpouring of support’ for his candidacy from all over Nigeria.
Similarly, Omoyele Sowore in a video he shared on his official Facebook account denied involvement in the final exercise that led to the emergence of Fela DuroToye.
His words “I was never part of the pact, I never participated in their activities, so there was no way I could have accepted such. I never felt that PACT represented my aspiration. in fact one of them accused my people that we were too emotional.
“And I replied that, if you have been in bondage for fifty eight years and you don’t have an emotional problem, then you have a problem; because the oppression has lasted for too long. Their disposition in the movement gave me the feeling that PACT was not where I should be. Regardless, I appreciate their decision, it is beautiful in democracy that we have varieties, I was even worried at some point that we might be setting ourselves for failure if we put all our eggs in one basket; considering that people like us may be too radical for the movement to handle.
Watch Sowore’s video: