KOWA Party has issued a strong disclaimer against its purported endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term.
The Party’s National Chairman’s name, Saidu Bobboi, and his signature were published as among the national chairmen who signed a full-page advertorial in Thursday’s ThisDay newspaper endorsing the president.
The disclaimer was contained in a statement issued by KOWA’s National Secretary, Mark Adebayo at the Party’s national headquarters in Abuja.
He said, “It has come as a rude shock to the National Executive Committee of KOWA Party that the Party’s name was published as among political Parties purported to have endorsed the incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari for second term. KOWA Party was never and will never be part of such thoughtless and shameless contraption of endorsement. As far as we are concerned it is fake news!
“We urge all KOWA Party members and supporters across the country and Diaspora to completely disregard such socio-political sacrilege against the noble spirit and cause that KOWA Party represents. KOWA Party will never support the complete failure that the Buhari government represents. That was why the Party joined the Coalition of United Political Parties and has actively participated in all its activities leading up to the emergence of Ex-VP Atiku Abubakar as coalition candidate. KOWA Party remains an integral part of the CUPP and cannot, just a few days to the presidential election, commit such an irresponsible and ridiculous volte-face to endorse a government we have consistently criticised for the aggravated backwardness, insecurity, unprecedented corruption, arrogant nepotism, cluelessness and cabal domination as attested to even by Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the president’s wife. KOWA Party is standing on solid abutments of honor and ideological integrity that can’t just be rubbished so brazenly and shamelessly. We therefore strongly and unequivocally dissociate the Party from the endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
Responding to a telephone interview on the matter, when he was asked what would become of the One Hundred Million Naira each allegedly collected by endorsing Party, Adebayo, who also doubles as the Party’s Chief Executive Officer as enshrined in its Constitution responded thus; “Well, if anybody collected One Hundred Million Naira to endorse Buhari he or she did so at his/her own peril, not on behalf of KOWA Party. Those who gave the money know who collected such cursed money from them and know how to recover their corrupted money. No such amount or any amount for that matter for such shameful action was credited into KOWA Party’s account. The creditors must surely know who their debtor is.”
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Asked if he had confirmed from the National Chairman if he was involved in the endorsement, he retorted “I don’t have to confirm anything from him. He knows he doesn’t have such constitutional authority or power nor mandate to commit the Party in that manner without prior and official consultations and official approval by the National Executive Committee of the Party at least. And, I know him well enough to affirm that he won’t violate the Party’s constitution in such a flagrant way. Saidu Bobboi, to the best of my knowledge, won’t do such a thing. We are close and have been political allies for years. I consider it fake news”, he insisted.
Asked what the party would do if it comes out eventually true that the Party’s National Chairman actually committed the Party to the endorsement without consultations, Adebayo said; “When we get to that bridge we will cross it. I can’t proceed from a point of view of assumptions presently. But, if in the unlikely event of it being true, there are internal Party mechanisms for dealing with such serious infractions and we shall apply them fully and uncompromisingly. But up till now he hasn’t confirmed such despite several questions being raised by many concerned and agitated Party members, leaders and critical stakeholders
“All KOWA Party agents across the country are hereby directed to proceed with earlier directives to work for KOWA Party National Assembly candidates on Saturday February 16 and the CUPP consensus presidential candidate same day. We can’t kill our Party this way”, the Party’s National Secretary concluded.
