Former presidential candidate of
the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN, Oby Ezekwesili has officially
resigned from the party.
This was disclosed in a press
conference organized by Ezekwesili in Abuja.
The former presidential candidate
returned ACPN membership card and all other party items as she officially
resigned.
She revealed that she made this
move because the party was more fixated on Money than Votes.
According to her, the party
became ‘frustrated’ with her after they realized “I was not using my global
network to get some countries, organizations and foreigners to donate money to
their Party like the APC and PDP do. The more I told them that I was committed
to abide strictly to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC rules on
campaign finance and was not going to negotiate that in order to satisfy their
monetary demands, the more frustrated they became.”
Ezekwesili stated further: “Let me
take a moment to address what appears to be an error of judgment that made me
run on the platform of the quality of people that ACPN turned out to the
harbor. As you know, until I decided to run for President last October, I was
not a politician but strictly a public policy expert. I have always believed
that the brand of politics we practice in this country is perverse and
unappealing to me.
“A series of deeply agitating
occurrences moved me to take a keener interest in the toxic effect bad politics
has on governance of Nigeria. Most of 2018 saw me increasingly mobilizing
citizens to become more politically conscious and pay deeper attention to the
activities of our politicians nationwide.
“I preached that to correct the
prevalent bad governance for which Nigeria is globally derided, our citizens
would need to take collective actions that terminate bad politics. Evidence
abounds that our version of Politics undermines everything that we do in this
country, whether it is what citizens do, what businesses do, what the society
at large does. it undermines governance.
“When the ACPN leadership
approached me in a series of visits to appeal that I run for office on their
platform, the party appeared to be a good fit. It was founded by some
disgruntled PDP members some years ago, but when its prime founder decided to
return to the PDP, a core of its membership refused to move back with him. I
was told that they stayed back because of their opposition to the ways of the
PDP. Considering my vocal disapproval of the PDP and the APC, I admired the
ACPN’s decision to stand firm and refusal to be co-opted.
“Also, the party came fourth in
the popular votes count for the 2015 elections. So this was not exactly a
mushroom party.We held several meetings before I chose to run on the ACPN
platform, and in each of those meetings, I was clear to all that if the target
was the same transactional money-grabbing politics that has held us back, I
would never go along with it.
“My public stance that the
nomination form for Presidency should not be above N100,000 was acceded to by
the Party while they pressed me to join their fold. I also privately and
publicly during the convention that adopted me as their presidential candidate
disclosed that there was no personal war-chest for politics available to me and
called on the Party to get ready for all of us to disrupt the traditional way
of campaigning by the dominant parties. You may have seen some of the videos
from those early meetings. You would notice that they repeatedly assured me
that we shared common values and principles. We shook hands and made it formal.
“I knew that along the way I will
face tests of my values, but I didn’t expect it so soon and not from the party
members who had assured me privately and publicly that they were on the same
page with me. In truth, our values were poles apart.
“The ACPN leadership demonstrated
in deeds that they did not believe in my advocacy for a cleaner politics. They
were not really interested in being a vehicle to break the bad politics
championed by the #APCPDP. In fact, the ACPN leadership began to act like a
junior sibling to the twin #APCPDP party.
“At one point, we were supposed
to have a meeting with all the state coordinators of the party. Instead of the
ACPN leadership to be honest about the strengths of the party and explain that
some states did not have coordinators at the time, they hired fake
coordinators, and asked the campaign to fly them into Abuja.
“You all saw how they
demonstrated their preferred brand of politics last week by endorsing the
ruling APC in a classic summersault. Deceptive politics of transactions at its
worst!
“Their actions last week did not
surprise me one bit. My relationship with the ACPN became problematic once they
faced the reality of my modest financial means that I had transparently
disclosed to them from the beginning. Their mistake was that they harbored two
wrong assumptions about me.
“First, they assumed that I was
one of those who served in government and had a stash of looted public funds
hidden somewhere to expend on the elections. When they realized that was not
the case, they made a second wrong assumption by believing that I would be
willing to go and obtain foreign cash to prosecute my campaign. The leadership
of the Party became frustrated that I was not using my global network to get
“some countries, organizations and foreigners to donate money to their Party
like the APC and PDP do. The more I told them that I was committed to abide
strictly to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC rules on campaign
finance and was not going to negotiate that in order to satisfy their monetary
demands, the more frustrated they became.
“Ladies and gentlemen, in all
these, the options before me were clear. I could give in to the ACPN’s
desperation and use any means necessary to satisfy those fellows or I could
uphold my values and leave their fold. I could succumb to their pressure,
pretend as though I did not see how utterly corrupt their ransom demands were
and continue with the campaign or I could step up at great personal cost to
myself, and say ENOUGH.
“Immediately I expressed my
options in those clear terms, the choice was easy. I cannot do anything that
contradicts my eternal values. For someone who was running for office with a
promise to fix our politics, getting mired in the mud of transactional
anti-people politics would have represented a quick fall. God forbid! I had to
live my values; I had to follow my truth. And I am proud I did.
“The only thing I now owe the
ACPN is a total and immediate separation from their camp. I have earlier today
returned my ACPN membership card, party flag and other paraphernalia in order
to signpost my complete separation.”
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