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The Accord National Leadership has disowned Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim as its presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections.
The party’s National Chairman, Maxwell Mgbuden, in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, called on the public to ignore the report naming Olawepo-Hashim as Accord’s presidential candidate.
Mgbuden said the purported presidential primaries in which Olawepo-Hashim would emerge as the candidate were not conducted by the Accord and had no legal effect.
“The alleged presidential primaries in which he (Olawepo-Hashim) emerged as the presidential candidate were not conducted by our great party and have no effect,” he said.
Mgbuden said the party did not have any presidential aspirants within the time frame set out in the approved guidelines, calendar and program of activities communicated to INEC.
He said no aspirant purchased expression of interest and presidential nomination forms before the deadline, forcing the party to cancel the scheduled primaries.
“Accordingly, the election umpire was duly informed of the cancellation of the party’s scheduled presidential primary election,” he said.
Mgbuden said Olawepo-Hashim expressed interest in contesting on May 26 after the approved deadline for participating in the trial expired.
He added that the payments of N10 million and N40 million made by Olawepo-Hashim for the nomination forms were received after the conclusion of the process.
“In line with transparency, accountability and due process, the party has instructed its bankers to reverse payments to the originating account,” he said.
According to him, eligibility for nomination requires compliance with all guidelines, including purchasing and submitting forms, as well as participating in the screening exercise.
He argued that the absence of other aspirants does not automatically confer the right to nomination, pointing out that Accord currently has no presidential candidate for the 2027 presidential elections.
