Former presidential aspirant and businessman, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has dismissed claims that the Accord Party refunded his N50 million nomination fee, insisting that the money remains in the party’s account.
Olawepo-Hashim stated this in an interview with Trust TV on Tuesday while reacting to the ongoing dispute over the party’s presidential ticket, maintaining that he remains the validly nominated candidate.
The former Peoples Democratic Party chieftain claimed that reports that his nomination fee had been returned were false.
“That is not true. They have never refunded my money. My money is still in their account. If it had been refunded, I would have seen it in my bank account. So that claim is false,” he said.
He alleged that he was invited into the party by its national leadership and was assured that the process leading to the presidential primary would be conducted in accordance with the party’s guidelines.
“When the National Chairman of the Accord Party came to meet me, he personally invited me to join the party. Don’t forget that I was in the PDP at the time. He even led a delegation to my office,” Olawepo-Hashim said.
He added that the party had issued a notice for its presidential primary and submitted the schedule to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“They subsequently submitted to INEC a schedule for the presidential primary, which was fixed for Thursday, and adequate notice was given. Under the guidelines, you cannot cancel such a notice unless you issue another notice at least seven days before the event,” he said.
Olawepo-Hashim maintained that he had emerged as the party’s candidate and remained in the race.
“Yes, I am still in the race. I have emerged as the candidate, and nobody can take that away,” he stated.
The former presidential aspirant also claimed that the crisis within the Accord Party reflects a broader challenge affecting several political parties.
“It is important to understand that what is happening in the Accord Party is not an isolated case. Virtually all the political parties are experiencing issues involving multiple candidates,” he said.
Olawepo-Hashim criticised the framework adopted for party primaries, arguing that it contributed to disputes across political parties.
“The framework for the primaries created the conditions for this confusion. I was one of those who spoke against that framework,” he said.
According to him, the Electoral Act provides that party primaries should be concluded 120 days before an election, but political parties were required to conclude their exercises within a shorter period.
“That framework did not allow adequate time for planning or for competitive internal party primaries. I challenged it, and some political parties also went to court over the matter,” he said.
He further claimed that ongoing disputes in several political parties were linked to the implementation of the timetable.
“The result is the confusion and disputes we are seeing today. In my view, this is organised chaos,” Olawepo-Hashim added.
Recall that the party had disowned Olawepo-Hashim as its presidential candidate for the 2027 general election, insisting that the party neither conducted a presidential primary nor produced any candidate for the race.
Accord National Chairman, Maxwell Mgbuden, stated this in a statement issued last week Wednesday in Abuja.
The rebuttal comes two days after Olawepo-Hashim’s media office announced his emergence after alleged affirmation primaries that witnessed a massive turnout of party members and supporters across participating states.
Mgbuden also revealed that it received payments totalling N50 million from Olawepo-Hashim after the expiration of the nomination process.
According to him, the payment included N10 million for the expression of interest form and N40 million for the nomination form.
“It was after the elapse of the party’s timeframe for the purchase of the expression of interest and nomination forms as well as the screening of any aspirant for president that Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim paid for the said forms into the party’s bank account,” the statement said.
The party added that it subsequently instructed its bankers to reverse the payments to the originating account because they could not be processed under a nomination exercise that had already been concluded.
“In keeping with the Accord’s cherished principles of transparency, accountability, and due process, the party instructed its bankers to reverse the payments of N10,000,000 and N40,000,000, expression of interest and nomination forms fees respectively to the originating bank,” it stated.
Accord further rejected what it described as Olawepo-Hashim’s argument that he should automatically emerge as the party’s candidate because no other aspirant sought the ticket.
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