INEC had already announced the deadline to withdraw or be replaced has passed.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has ruled
that it’s too late for any candidate to drop out of the race for the
2019 presidential election.
The candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Oby Ezekwesili,
announced early on Thursday, January 24, 2019, that she was withdrawing
from the race to focus on building a coalition before the February 16
election.
However, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the spokesperson to INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu,
has disclosed that her name will still appear on the ballot alongside
her party when Nigerians troop to the polls in three weeks.
He said, “It is impossible for
any presidential candidate to withdraw from the race now. Therefore, the
deadline for Ezekwesili or any candidate in that category to withdraw
or be replaced has passed.
“Her party will appear, her passport will
appear and her name will appear. So it doesn’t change anything as as far
as we are concerned.”
Even though Ezekwesili announced on Thursday that she would help form a coalition to contest against the biggest parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and their candidates, the ACPN has accused her of dishonesty.
In a response to her withdrawal, the party chairman, Ganiyu Galadima,
said the former minister was using the party’s platform to negotiate
for the position of Minister of Finance with the opposition.
Galadima, who was also Ezekwesili’s running mate, announced that the ACPN would back President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC for re-election in the February 16 election.
The election is billed as a contest between Buhari and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, with 70 other candidates in the race.