A former deputy
governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kingsley Moghalu, has condemned
the arrangement that produced Fela Durotoye as a consensus candidate under the group
called Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT).
Moghalu, who is
a presidential aspirant under the Young Progressive Party (YPP) among other
reasons said his decision was necessary because ‘PACT did not produce a truly
consensus candidate.’
He also
appealed for continued cooperation from his supporters noting that he is firmly
in the race for presidency in the 2019 elections.
“I wish to inform members of my “To Build A Nation”
(TBAN) movement, the Kingsley Moghalu Support Organisation (KIMSO) nationwide,
the Kingsley Moghalu Volunteer Force, Youth for Kingsley (Y4K), Women for Kingsley
(W4K), Kingsley Moghalu Disciples, the Young Progressive Party (YPP) and my
other supporters nationwide and in the Diaspora that I am pressing ahead with
my plan to contest the 2019 presidential election.
It could be recall that13 presidential aspirants across
different political parties, including YPP member and former deputy governor of
the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Kingsley Moghalu, Mr Abubakar Alkali of the APC,
ANN among others formed a coalition called PACT, with a view to choosing one
candidate whom they would support in the 2019 general elections.
Mr. Durotoye was elected as the coalition’s candidate in
a closed-door session under the supervision of a former Minister of Education
and Convener of the Red Card Movement, Dr Oby Ezekwesili.
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Fela Durotoye |
The election
followed a series of consultative meetings by the presidential aspirants on the
best strategy to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling party in
2019.
After Durotoye was announced as the winner, Dr Ezekwesili
commended the participants for conducting the exercise.
She said, “I must tell you that this is quite a noble
venture that you’ve all decided to pursue and so, in furtherance of my
determination that the old must give way to the new, I have decided to come and
to observe the process, and to say what I saw.”
However, 11 out of the 13 aspirants who took part in the
election signed the agreement to support the ANN aspirant in the 2019
presidential election.
Mr. Fela Durotoye
in his reaction having defeated 12 other aspirants to emerge as the consensus
candidate of the Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT) said, “We’ve
spent that last part of at least a year and a half convincing Nigerians on the
need to go and get involved in the process. So, my next call to everyone is
that now is the time for us to come up with every single idea that can solve
the problems of Nigeria.