Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, the presidential aspirant under the Young Progressive Party (YPP), has rejected the emergence of Mr. Fela Durotoye as the consensus candidate of the young aspirants under the aegis of Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT).
He insisted that he would forge ahead with his presidential ambition.
This is even as he has drawn flaks from some of his followers and supporters on twitter.
In a long tweet on his official handle @KMoghalu, on Thursday, gave reasons for his position.
The tweet reads: “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.
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“The reasons I have pulled out of the PACT arrangements are as follows:
- The arrangement had unravelled even before the final selection of the consensus candidate. 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aspirants participated in the final voting out of the original 18 aspirants, mainly because many of the aspirants had withdrawn from the process.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 this morning withdrew from the process even while the voting was going on. Therefore, PACT did not produce a truly consensus candidate.
- Clause 13 of the PACT Memorandum of Understanding asserts the supremacy of the constitutional rights of the aspirants to pursue their political aspirations.”
Prof. Moghalu further said he had chosen to “continue without distraction to pursue my vision in the Presidential race for 2019 in the national interest and in deference to the overwhelming outpouring of support for my 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 expressed his conviction that the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria required competence and experience in those three vital areas.
Meanwhile, some of his followers and supporters insist that his decision raises questions about his integrity and character.
Andie Torgbenda, tweeting @Andie_Best, in response to Prof. Moghalu’s post said: “I see a huge character defect here. You participated in the process, would you have said all these if you won? If you don’t honour your word today how can we trust you to honour your word tomorrow? SIGH”
A VoiCe@ jskay7 said: “An indictment on his integrity…He can’t be trusted if things don’t go his way. He is no different from Atlku and others. He should have pulled out before the outcome not after… At least I know who not to vote.”
Jerry Jay @ChimaJerryjay30, tweeted; “Sir, it is wrong of you to have been within the proves till the end and then you pulled out when you noticed it did not favour you. It is against the spirit of “talk and do.” It again shows that you are not really a politician, you are a technocrat trying to fit into politics.”
A voice of support however came from Sola Kukoyi who tweeted @solakukoyi: “Mr. Moghalu has been crisscrossing Nigeria over the last several weeks, which shows commitment and seriousness unlike Mr. Fela Durotoye. I’m of the opinion that he is a better candidate and is more experienced than Fela. My personal opinion pls.”
His tweet however drew the following response from Awesome tweeting @ugoosings; “Agreed. The fact PACT chose Fela only shows they are working for APC. But then I believe Kingsley participated in the process and should respect it.”
