.Hails Ezekwesili’s action
There are indications that the presidential candidate of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Mr. Fela Durotoye, may also sacrifice his ambition to ensure a coalition candidate emerges in the forthcoming presidential election.
Recall early on Thursday, January 24, 2019, the Presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, abandoned the presidential race to help build a coalition to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 16, 2019 election.
Durotoye, in a statement on Thursday, urged other candidates not to let the opportunity of working together to create history slip by.
He lauded the sacrifice of the former minister, Oby Ezekwesili, who had earlier announced her withdrawal from the race.
Durotoye said, “I have always believed that leadership is about service and sacrifice and today, I would like to commend Dr. (Mrs) Oby Ezekwesili 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, and Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, 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.
“Together, we can do the perceived impossible. Our generation is depending on us. We must not let them down,” he said.