Former presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Oby Ezekwesili, has apologised to her supporters for quitting the presidential race abruptly.
She said on Monday in Abuja in a press conference that the ACPN’s desperation for money forced her out of the race.
“At a point the ACPN leadership acted like a junior sibling to the twin #APCPDP party. There was a time we scheduled a meeting with state coordinators. Instead of the ACPN leadership to be honest about the strengths of the party and explained that some states have no coordinators, they hired fake coordinators, and asked the campaign to fly them into Abuja.
“My relationship with the ACPN became problematic when they faced the reality of my modest financial means that I had transparently disclosed to them from the beginning. They were unhappy that I was unwilling to use my global network to get some countries, organizations and foreigners to donate money to their Party.
“The more I told them that I was committed to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC rules on campaign finance and was not going to negotiate that in order to satisfy their monetary demands, the more frustrated they became.
“I weighed the options in clear terms, and the choice was easy, that I can’t do anything that contradicts my eternal values. For someone who was running for office with a promise to fix our politics, getting mired in the mud of transactional anti-people politics would have represented a quick fall. I had to live my values; I had to follow my truth. And I am proud I did,” Ezekwesili said.
She also pleaded with her supporters to throw their weight behind a consensus candidate that would emerge very soon.
