…Threatening order of mandamus
The Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) has asked its former presidential candidate Oby Ezekwesili, to return all the monies generated during her short stay in the party, threatening to seek for order of mandamus if she refuse to comply.
Both the party and its presidential candidate have engaged in the war of words following the later’s withdrawal from the race and the subsequent endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari by the party.
Ezekwesili who is one the founders of #BringBackOurGirls# last year joined the ACPN to pursue her presidential ambition but later withdrawn.
Addressing a press conference, Thursday in Abuja, in response to some allegations made against the national leadership of ACPN by Ezekwesili, national chairman of the party Alhaji Ganiyu Galadima, said the party “reject in entirety everything She submitted.”
The party told the former minister that a political party is different from a charity organisation or the #BringBackOurGirls where she belong too.
“So, we are rejecting everything she submitted in entirety, we wanted to know all the content of the accounts and see the accounts because at the end of the day it is not the presidential candidate that INEC will hold responsible according to the law but the party, and whatever any candidate generated for his or her campaign belong to the party.
“We are expecting that she will respond at the appropriate time but if she doesn’t, we may be compelled to go to court to seek for order of Mandamus.”
Galadima said from all indications, madam Ezekwesili does not have capacity to contest a presidential election, adding that ordinary Lapeal that the presidential wore on her chest and distributed to members was paid for by the national secretary of the party.
“For somebody who want to contest for presidency, all you could generate for period of three !months was just N43 million and spent everything by herself. She could not even disclosed to the party the sources of the fund and how much she was able to generate.
“We wanted to know the full disclosure of all the accounts she opened because when you look at the statement she made available there are four difference accounts which we didn’t know anything about.
“Look at the Omoyele Sowore, he publicly diaclosed on a national TV recently that his campaign has been about to generate about N99 million with the party. In addition, he has also told the world how these money could be traced.
“So why is there no transparency in madam Ezekwesili’s project? That is the bone of contention.
“So, we are rejecting everything she submitted in entirety, we wanted to know all the content of the accounts and see the accounts because at the end of the day it is not the presidential candidate that INEC will hold responsible according to the law but the party, and whatever any candidate generated for his or her campaign belong to the party.
“We are expecting that she will respond at the appropriate time but if she doesn’t, we may be compelled to go to court to seek for order of Mandamus.”
