The national leadership of Accord party on Wednesday disowned Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim as its presidential candidate for the 2027 general election.
The party’s National Chairman, Maxwell Mgbuden, announced this in a statement issued in Abuja.
He said the party insisted that the party neither conducted a presidential primary nor produced any candidate for the race.
The rebuttal is coming two days after Olawepo-Hashim’s media office announced his emergence after alleged affirmation primaries that witnessed a massive turnout of party members and supporters across participating states.
However, Mgbuden, insisted that the purported exercise that produced him was not recognised by the national leadership and amounted to nothing more than a gathering organised by his supporters.
He said : “The purported presidential primary where he emerged as the ‘presidential candidate of Accord’ as widely reported in the national media was not conducted by our great party and has no effect whatsoever.
“It was a fanfare by his supporters, which should not be misconstrued as the party’s presidential primary. It was not.”
The party chairman maintained that it did not have any valid presidential aspirant within the timeframe stipulated in its approved guidelines, timetable and schedule of activities submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
He noted that while several aspirants purchased nomination forms for governorship, National Assembly and state legislative positions, no individual completed the process required to contest for the presidency within the approved timeline.
Continuing, Accord disclosed that Olawepo-Hashim only formally indicated interest in contesting for the presidency through a letter dated May 26, 2026, after the deadline for the submission and screening of aspirants had elapsed.
“As a result, the electoral umpire was duly notified of the cancellation of the party’s scheduled presidential primary,” the statement added.
Mgbuden also revealed that it received payments totalling N50 million from Olawepo-Hashim after the expiration of the nomination process.
According to him, the payment included N10 million for the expression of interest form and N40 million for the nomination form.
“It was after the elapse of the party’s timeframe for the purchase of the expression of interest and nomination forms as well as the screening of any aspirant for president that Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim paid for the said forms into the party’s bank account,” the statement said.
The party added that it subsequently instructed its bankers to reverse the payments to the originating account because they could not be processed under a nomination exercise that had already been concluded.
“In keeping with the Accord’s cherished principles of transparency, accountability, and due process, the party instructed its bankers to reverse the payments of N10,000,000 and N40,000,000, expression of interest and nomination forms fees respectively to the originating bank,” it stated.
Accord further rejected what it described as Olawepo-Hashim’s argument that he should automatically emerge as the party’s candidate because no other aspirant sought the ticket.
It stressed that compliance with its nomination procedures remained mandatory regardless of the number of aspirants.
“The absence of other aspirants would not dispense with these mandatory conditions nor confer automatic entitlement to nomination,” Mgbuden argued.
The leadership also disclosed that it formally communicated its position to Olawepo-Hashim in a letter dated May 31, explaining that his expression of interest and subsequent petition could not be processed because they were submitted outside the approved timeframe.
“For now, Accord has no presidential candidate for the 2027 general election. The party, however, nominated candidates for governorship and legislative offices,” Mgbuden concluded.
(vitalnewsngr.com)
