Tribunal: Hope Democratic Party NEC Disowns Presidential Candidate’s Petition

The Vice Presidential Candidate of Hope Democratic Party (HDP) in the 2019 Presidential Election, Alhaji Haruna Yahaya-Shaba, and national executive committee members of the party have disowned the legal action pending in the election petition tribunal.

The Presidential Candidate of the party, Chief Ambrose Owuru, had instituted legal action against the election of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Owuru had among other prayers, asked the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to disallow or stop the swearing in of President Buhari pending the disposal of petitions against his election.

Yahaya-Shaba, who is also the Deputy National Chairman of the party, disclosed this in a statement he personally signed and issued to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday.

He said that he was working with other National Executive Committee (NEC) members against the legal action taken by Owuru.

“We called an emergency NEC meeting to discuss very serious issues affecting our great Party.

“We have taken the decision to instruct our Lawyers to communicate the decision of the NEC to the Presidential Election Tribunal sitting in Abuja.

“In the last two weeks, I have been inundated with calls from many party members, including some NEC members, to explain the information that our party has filed a petition at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja,” Yahaya-Shaba said.

He said many people were shocked and surprised when he explained that as the deputy national chairman and indeed the vice presidential candidate of HDP, he only heard of the news of filing petition at the tribunal from the media.

“HDP is not a personal property of any individual. It is, therefore, illegal and unacceptable for any individual in the party to take such a unilateral decision without getting official approval of the Party.
“As the running mate of the party in the last presidential election, I therefore dissociate myself from this unilateral action.”

He also disclosed that the NEC of HDP had also constituted a seven-man committee to investigate allegations against Owuru that he allegedly received substantial amount of money from the opposition PDP to institute the illegal petition. (NAN)