2027: No One Can Stop My Presidential Bid, Says Gbenga Hashim

• Says INEC Lacks Final Authority Over Party Candidacy

• ‘Court Will Determine My Fate’

Presidential candidate of the Accord Party, Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has vowed to pursue his bid for the 2027 presidential election, insisting that his exclusion from the latest list of candidates published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does not invalidate his candidacy.

Hashim, who described the development as an administrative action that remains subject to judicial determination, maintained that he emerged as the duly nominated presidential candidate of the Accord Party and would continue to challenge his exclusion through legal means.

Reacting to his omission from INEC’s final list of presidential candidates published at the weekend, Hashim said no administrative decision could extinguish what he described as a legally acquired political right.

“I am the candidate of the Accord Party. No one can exclude me from the 2027 presidential election. The court will do justice,” he said in a statement issued in Abuja.

Hashim argued that the constitutional powers of INEC do not give the commission final authority to determine disputes arising from the emergence, recognition or exclusion of a political party’s candidate.

According to him, such disputes are ultimately subject to judicial determination, particularly where a candidate challenges the outcome of a party primary or the process through which his name was excluded.

“Our democracy does not give INEC any right of finality over who stands as the candidate of a political party. Where there is a dispute over the emergence or exclusion of a candidate, the adjudicatory functions of the courts are provided precisely to prevent impunity and ensure that no administrative process becomes a pre-planned mechanism for keeping particular candidates off the ballot,” he said.

Hashim disclosed that he had already approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking, among other reliefs, an order compelling the Accord Party to recognise him as its presidential candidate and transmit his name to INEC.

He said the case had been heard and reserved for judgment.

The former presidential aspirant based his claim on his assertion that he emerged as the sole winner of Accord’s presidential primary held on May 30, 2026, after paying the prescribed nomination fee, with the exercise monitored by officials of INEC.

He therefore argued that the dispute over his candidacy could not be conclusively determined by an administrative publication.

“The publication by INEC is not the final determination of my candidacy. There is a subsisting legal dispute before the court, and I have confidence in the judicial process.

“I emerged from the presidential primary as the candidate. I have done what the law requires, and I believe the court will uphold the law,” Hashim said.

He further alleged that certain political interests were uncomfortable with his candidacy because, according to him, he could appeal to voters across Nigeria on the basis of competence, ideas and national interest rather than ethnic or religious considerations.

“I am the candidate they cannot easily fit into their old calculations. I am the candidate capable of winning votes across North and South. I am prepared to fight over issues that matter to ordinary Nigerians and over the future of this country, rather than participate in the politics of division, ethnicity, religion and sentiment,” he said.

Hashim said his legal battle was not solely about his personal ambition, but also about the integrity of political party primaries, internal democracy and the rights of party members and voters.

He asked: “The real issue is whether a political party can conduct a presidential primary, produce a winner, and subsequently prevent that winner from participating in the election.

“If that can happen without judicial scrutiny, then what happens to internal democracy within political parties? What happens to the right of party members who participated in the primary? And ultimately, what happens to the right of Nigerians to choose who they want on the ballot?”

He called on his supporters to remain calm and assured them that he would continue to pursue the matter through constitutional and legal channels.

“I am not asking anyone to break the law. I am asking that the law be allowed to work.

“We will not be intimidated, we will not be distracted and we will not surrender a legitimate democratic right because somebody has published a list.

“The court will speak, and when it does, we will abide by the judgment,” Hashim added.