Presidential Candidate of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Fela Durotoye has expressed his readiness to form an alliance with the standard bearers of African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore and Kingsley Moghalu of Young Progressives Party (YPP) with a view to producing a consensus candidate against the two major contenders, Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar.
In a statement on Thursday, Durotoye promised to submit himself to any transparent process that will help arrive at a selection of a consensus candidate.
He was reacting to the withdrawal of the presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Oby Ezekwesili, from the February 16 presidential election.
Ezekwesili said she decided to step down from the presidential race to help build a coalition for a viable alternative to the APC/PDP in the 2019 general elections.
In a press statement on Thursday, Durotoye commended Ezekwesili for the decision.
The statement reads: “I have always believed that leadership is about service and sacrifice and today, I would like to commend Dr. (Mrs) Oby Ezekwesili @obyezeks for leading the charge to forming a viable coalition to presenting a Consensus Candidate for the 2019 Presidential elections.
“To ensure that an alliance is formed and we present a united front, I AM READY to come into any coalition talks with my brothers Omoyele Sowore @yelesho and Prof. Kingsley Moghalu @moghalukingsley and to submit myself to any transparent process that will help us arrive at a selection of a Consensus Candidate from amongst us.
“To be clear, if the process produces any other candidate apart from myself, I AM READY to support whoever the Consensus Candidate is and to do all I can to support the coalition to win the 2019 Presidential elections for our generation.
“Once again, I implore the frontline candidates in our generation.
“Let us come together and seize this historic window of opportunity for our generation to select one of us to go ahead of us … so that ALL OF US can come together and speak with one voice at the 2019 General Elections”.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
