TheCable

Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), says his party cannot afford to pollute its ideology by joining a coalition.

Sowore said this on Tuesday during a morning show on Arise Television.

The presidential candidate said his colleagues from other parties have not reached out to him on the issue of coalition.

On Thursday, Fela Durotoye, presidential candidate of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), said he was ready to withdraw from the race for a consensus candidate.

He made his position known a few hours after Oby Ezekwesili announced her withdrawal.

Reacting to the development, Sowore said: “Our party is a coalition of the oppressed, the abandoned, unemployed, poor and downtrodden.

“So, what we are looking for is more partnership and enlargement of our platform to accommodate more people that want their voices to be heard. We always invite others to join us. But in this case, they have not reached out to us yet.

“Some of these parties are not out there. We are out there. We just came back from Bauchi, Gombe and Jos. We are meeting with Nigerian people who are going to vote on February 16. I was not part of those meetings.

“Our focus at this point is winning the election. We are not just going to be part of a coalition for the purpose of creating another coalition. People already know us and what we stand for.

“We cannot afford to pollute or dilute what we stand for. We must have some kind of genetic similarity with others who want to form coalition with us. For example, we can’t compromise on the issue of minimum wage. So, we cannot join a coalition of people who don’t understand us. It has to be very clear what they are joining us for.”