Hope Democratic Party (HDP) vice presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election, Alhaji Haruna Yahaya-Shaba, has dissociated himself from the legal action instituted by the party’s presidential candidate, Chief Ambrose Owuru against the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buharias the president-elect.
The vice-presidential candidate, who is also the party’s deputy national chairman, said Sunday in a statement that the position of Chief Owuru does not represent the consensus of the party.
Already, he said he along with other members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) were seriously considering the legal action taken by Owuru and would accordingly take strong legal position against it soonest.
“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.
Further, Yahaya-Shaba said many of its members and supporters 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.
