2019: Accord re-elects Nalado chairman, to field Presidential candidate

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

Accord (A) has re-elected Honorable Mohammad Nalado as the party’s national chairman for a fresh tenure of four years, even as it vowed to field a presidential candidate in the next year general elections, being the first time the party will do so since it was registered in 2006.
In a chat with journalists in Abuja yesterday, the Accord chairman, who doubles as the National Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), said the party over the years became actively present in all the states, hence it now has the required spread across the country to contest for the presidency.
Nalado also explained that the party held a peaceful convention during which he was returned as chairman, alongside other National Working Committee (NWC) members. Other elected national officers are: Bukola Ajaja, who emerged as Secretary, Idris Aruwa, Organizing Secretary, Kayode Ojo, Auditor.
Others are: Umar Moh’d, Financial Secretary, Abdulraham Mohamed, Youth Leader, Maryam Saleh, Women Leader, Mike Lerama, Treasure, Maxwell Mbugdem, Legal Adviser, among others.
Hon. Nalado also revealed to journalists that in his new tenure, the party will focus on aggressive grassroots mobilisation of more supporters and strategic members to win elective positions for the party both at states and national level.
Reacting to the threats of possible political violence ahead of the 2019 elections, Nalado said it is usual to hear political parties make such scary remarks hoping to win election through it, but urged politicians to play according to the code of conduct which INEC has laid down for political parties.
Also, he dissociated the party from any possible merger with other parties, saying that Accord has grown beyond the level of considering merging with any party, but said if they are approached by like minded political party, it might consider alliance to boost the strength of the party especially in zones where it has a comparative advantage.
According to him, Accord will only accept other credible parties and personality with integrity who may wish to join the party, but emphasized that since its registration in 2006, the party has grown in leaps and bounds across the states of the federation that it will not consider any merger.
He noted that at its inception in 2006, the party took part in 2007 election when it won senatorial seat, and two state assemblies, as well as in 2011, when it won four state assemblies and House of Representatives seat, adding that since then, the party has won elections at both state and national levels.
“Accord was built on success, and 2019 will not be different from the previous performances, I believe that in this forthcoming election, the party will be much more better than the previous election.
“Since the inception of the party we have never had a presidential candidate, we adopted a presidential candidate in 2010, in 2015, we did not adopt any candidate because nobody approached us for that and sincerely, we knew that we did not have that national spread, but we have a better spread now and I believe we can contest for the president”, he said.
On the possibility of adopting President Mohammadu Buhari as the party’s presidential candidate, the Accord chairman said the party, given its wide spread, is most likely to field a presidential candidate, but added that adoption of Buhari as their candidate or not is a decision that only the party can take and not the chairman.