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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mike Aondoakaa, has warned the party on the implications of aspirants signing the controversial All Progressives Congress (APC) ‘Form 18 withdrawal letter, stressing that it is capable of invalidating the electoral victory of candidate in the 2023 general elections.
The Form 18 Letter of Withdrawal attached to the nomination forms issued to the aspirants to fill and submit along with other forms and their credentials has been causing growing concern among aspirants in the APC.
Speaking to newsmen on the issue after submitting his expression of interest and nomination forms to contest the 2023 Benue State governorship election, the former AGF said that he did not bother himself signing the controversial forms.
Asked his take on the withdrawal letter, Aondoakaa, said; “unfortunately, I did not sign and I sought clearance. The implication is a two way traffic. If you sign that agreement now and you win election and the opponent come to know that you signed the agreement, I can bet you your election will be invalidated.
“If you sign an agreement that you have withdrawn from the race, assuming you win the election, you participate in the general election, the opposition party will file an action that you did not partake in the election and when that form is subpoena, is presumed you have withdrawn from the election. So you can not be part of it.
“So, I think what the leadership of the party intended is to have that withdrawal in case at the time of primaries people want to withdraw in compliance with the Electoral Act, they just fill in there and a Commissioner for Oaths will endorse it. It can not be intended that you withdraw before you participate, it looks absurd because if you win the election, the election will be invalid,” he warned.
On his vision for the governorship position, he said: “First of all is to make Benue a very peaceful state with its neighbours. My dream is to make sure that all citizens leaving in Benue they have equal rights, opportunities to do their activities.
“Those who are doing business, farming, and farming is not restricted to only crops farming, all forms of farming, they should do their business harmoniously. That is number one.
“Once we secure the state effectively and we also ensure that people live in peace with one another without saying this man is Hausa, this one is Igbo this one is Tiv, then we can make progress in the state.
“You know agriculture requires peace, if you don’t have peace, you can’t do it. Then, my first task is to have a peaceful Benue so that people will hear Benue as peace loving people, there will not be so much shouting.
“We will try to manage our crisis and minimise communal clashes amongst the people. Then, the next thing is to aggressively transform potential we have in agriculture and try to make sure that we export agriculture. Our agricultural produce will be exported.
“We produce literally everything but because we have not been able to harness our potential in terms of exporting agriculture we have not been able to do that. So, we want to bring that will contribute to agricultural development of the nation. Our dream is to feed the country,” he promised.
