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The National Executive Committee of the Alliance for Democracy said on Friday that it had rejected Chief Olusola Oke as the candidate of the party for the November 26, 2016 governorship election in Ondo State.
The leadership of the party alleged that the emergence of Oke did not follow due process and was not in line with the constitution of the party.
The NEC members also passed a vote of no confidence in the party’s National Chairman, Chief Joseph Avazi; National Secretary, Mr. Akin Fasogbon; National Auditor, Mr. Ayodele Ismail and South West Zonal Chairman, Chief Tayo Onayemi.
According to a communiqué issued at the emergency meeting of the party held in Akure, the Ondo State capital, the four NEC members were allegedly instrumental to the emergence of Oke as the candidate without following the constitution of the party.
The party specifically kicked against the manner in which the National Chairman and three other NEC members withdrew the name of the party’s initial candidate, Dr. Akin Olowookere, and submitted the name of Oke to the Independent National Electoral Commission as the candidate of the AD.
“Dr. Olowookere was invited to the home of a very prominent politician in Lagos, where he was compelled to withdraw his candidature in the forthcoming election and was substituted for Oke, whose membership of the party is not up to ten weeks,” the NEC alleged.
The communiqué, read by the National Organising Secretary of the party, Mallam Ibrahim Abdullahi, was supported by all the 44 NEC members in attendance.
The communiqué partly read, “The action of the four NEC members in this case runs in total contradiction to the party’s constitution. They have no vested power to usurp the powers of the NEC of the party.
“Chief Olusola Oke is hereby not adopted as the candidate of the party in the governorship election.”
Also in the communique, the NEC of the party said if the chairman and the secretary failed to convene a NEC meeting within 21 days, it would act against the officers in line with the constitution of the party.
It added that it would set up a five-man committee “to recommend to the party the next line of action whether to adopt a candidate of another party or otherwise” for the election.
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