The National Chairman of Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Emmanuel Dania, has maintained that the party’s presidential flagbearer, Fela Durotoye, was duly elected and remains the party’s candidate.
Dania’s statement comes after protests from an aspirant, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, who reportedly withdrew from the September 29 presidential primary over breach of party rules.
Olawepo-Hashim had petitioned the national chairman in a letter, lamenting the national leadership’s failure to correct infractions he identified to the chairman.
But Dania in a Thursday press briefing noted that Durotoye’s election followed due process and was witnessed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The national chairman said, “We are aware of different information in the media but I’m here to set the record straight.
“ANN is a party that is ideals and its principles are built on transparency, integrity and excellence, and we always work within these principle.
“We fulfilled all INEC requirements and guidelines in our primaries. The process in which we conducted our primary is very open for all to check.”
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Speaking about Olawepo-Hashim’s petition, Dania said, “few days before our primaries, one of our presidential aspirants requested for a change of date, three days to the primary, and we constitutionally said we were not going to shift the date, we had no reason to move a date.
“He wasn’t the only presidential aspirant, and if we are going to do anything, we must always do it right, we felt from the position of a party that we didn’t have any reason to move the date and so we went ahead with it, in his ability to try to force our hands from holding that primary, he sent a letter to us where he copied INEC, stating he was withdrawing from the race.
“So, I don’t see why anybody would wake up in the morning and decide they want to hold a separate election.
“I’m the national chairman of the party. I remain recognised as national chairman of the party, and my executive and the BOT were all involved in the primary that produced Durotoye.
“So we do know, come 2019, we will present Fela Durotoye.
“If we give INEC 21 days which we also communicated to the aspirant that we are going to hold our primary at specific date, I do not see any reason why we should change those dates, so, for me, if he gave a good reason why we should move the date, I’m sure we will.
“I invited the candidates for a meeting and they all agreed to attend but on Thursday, September 27, where we supposed to have the meeting, he did not show up but Fela Durotoye, so who happen to blame.
“I have no worries and not disturbed about what is happening because I have confidence in INEC.”
Asked if external forces could be involved in the crisis, Dania said, “I do not have any evidence to that effect, however I know that Olawepo-Hashim used to be a member of the PDP. A lot of his campaign team are PDP members.“