The Accord Party has tackled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for excluding its presidential candidate, Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, from its 2027 list.
Mr Dele Oladeji, the Lagos State Chairman and Secretary, South-West Zone of the party, however expressed confidence that the court would resolve the matter in favour of Olawepo-Hashim and uphold his candidacy.
He said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos, while reacting to the INEC list of presidential candidates for the 2027 general elections.
“Three dependable members of the party aspired for the presidential ticket, they were of good character and had good career paths and others.
“At some point, Dr Gbenga Olawepo became our candidate because we adopted him as our consensus candidate.
“But whatever it is, he was not captured by INEC. We don’t know why; it is not known to the party.
“All we know is that we heard the news in the media that we don’t have a presidential candidate, when we, as party leaders and state executives, adopted Dr Gbenga Olawepo.”he said.
Oladeji said Olawepo met the requirements to contest the election, including payment of the prescribed nomination fees, before emerging as the party’s consensus candidate.
“For whatever reason, he was not listed by INEC, and this has led him to approach the court.
“The man met every requirement after paying the nomination fees.
“As a party, at the national level, we are looking to the court to give a favourable judgment for the democratic process.
“Our candidate is Dr Gbenga Olawepo, after emerging through a consensus, but there was a compromise around his mandate that he has gone to the court to correct,” he said.
The chairman said the party’s leadership was hopeful of securing a favourable judgment, stressing that Accord remained committed to contesting the 2027 election under its platform.
“The best of our hope in the national leadership of the party is that Dr Gbenga Olawepo should get a good judgment in court.
“That is what we are looking for at the national level. We are hopeful he is going to win in court. So, we are going into the election as Accord, and we are winning as Accord.
“The National Executive Council of the party and National Officers are very optimistic of a favourable judgement for Dr Gbenga Olawepo at the court.
“We are every hopeful that his mandate will be restored. This wish and hope is shared by members of the party across Nigeria,” Oladeji said.
He also dismissed reports of factionalisation in the party, saying the controversy over its presidential candidacy was not the result of factions.
“We only have an impostor, in the person of Prof. Imumolen,” he said.
On the possibility of Accord aligning with other political parties if the issue was not resolved, Oladeji said the party had no such plan.
“We are not aligning with other political parties,” he said, reiterating that the party’s expectation was for the court to give a favourable judgment to Olawepo.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has published the final list of 18 presidential candidates and their running mates for the January 2027 general elections.
The presidential list comprises 16 male candidates and two female candidates respectively.
Among those on the list are President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), and Oyo State Governor Oluseyi Makinde of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
Sandy Ojang Onor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
Other presidential candidates are Rufai Adekunle Omo-Aje of the Action Alliance (AA), Abbas-Bin Aliyu of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Yusuf Kabiru of the Action Peoples Party (APP), and Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC).
Also in the list are Sunday Adenuga of the Boot Party (BP), Adebisi Olusoji of the Democratic Labour Alliance (DLA), Sunday Okereke of the Labour Party (LP), Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Peter Agada of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), and Nwanyanwu Daberechukwu of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
The list also featured two female presidential candidates, Ada Elizabeth Frederick Okwori of the National Democratic Party (NDP) and Nkem Esther Okereke of the National Rescue Movement (NRM).
