Presidential aspirant of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Kingsley Moghalu, is forging ahead with his aspiration regardless of the outcome of the meeting that produced Fela Durotoye as a consensus candidate.
Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has therefore pulled out from a group called Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT) after the emergence of Durotoye.
Moghalu said his decision was necessary because ‘PACT did not produce a truly consensus candidate.’
He also appealed for continued cooperation from his supporters noting that he is firmly in the race for presidency in the 2019 elections.
Moghalu said in a statement released on Friday: “I wish to inform members of my “To Build A Nation” (TBAN) movement, the Kingsley Moghalu Support Organisation (KIMSO) nationwide, the Kingsley Moghalu Volunteer Force, Youth for Kingsley (Y4K), Women for Kingsley (W4K), Kingsley Moghalu Disciples, the Young Progressive Party (YPP) and my other supporters nationwide and in the diaspora that I am pressing ahead with my plan to contest the 2019 presidential election.
“This is despite the arrangement for a consensus candidate among the young presidential aspirants under the aegis of Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT), which today produced an outcome that has left many Nigerians expressing surprise and disappointment.”
Explaining further his reasons for pulling out of the PACT arrangement, Moghalu said it did not produce a truly consensus candidate because all the aspirants were not carried along.
“Only seven aspirants participated in the final voting out of the original 18 aspirants, mainly because many of the aspirants had withdrawn from the process.
“Four candidates who were present in the meeting withdrew from the process even while the voting process was ongoing. Therefore, PACT did not produce a truly consensus candidate,” Moghalu said.
He added that clause 13 of the PACT Memorandum of Understanding asserts the supremacy of the constitutional rights of the aspirants to pursue their political aspirations.
He said he has chosen to continue to pursue his vision in the presidential race for 2019 in the national interest and in deference of support for his candidacy from all parts of Nigeria.
“I will remain focused on the objective of providing a competent leadership that will help unite our country and build a nation, wage a decisive war against poverty and unemployment, and restore respect for Nigeria in the society of nations,” he said.
Moghalu noted that it is his well-considered view that the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria requires competence and experience in these three vital areas.
PACT is an alliance made up of 18 presidential aspirant from different political parties.