The former presidential candidate of Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Otunba Owolabi Odebudo has denied report that his party has pledged allegiance to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.

Odebudo, who was the presidential candidate of DPP before standing down for the presidential candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, maintained in a statement that his party at no time endorse Buhari’s candidature.

The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to the front page of ThisDay newspaper and other newspapers today March 19, 2015, advertorials, news stories, features and other content in the media to the effect that 12 of 26 Political Parties have pledged their loyalty to the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2015 Presidential Election. It was suggest that the Democratic Peoples’ Party (DPP) is one of these political that have endorsed the APC and its Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.

“Closely associated to this are reports of the solidarity visit paid by thirteen political parties to the APC and General Buhari where they pledged to work for the opposition candidate.

“We find it pertinent to correct the wrong impression created to the effect that DPP is one of the thirteen political parties that are hobnobbing with the APC. For the avoidance of doubts, the DPP on December 21 last year pressured me as its Presidential Candidate to step down for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan. On March 7, 2015, at a well attended media briefing, the leadership of the DPP announced its adoption of President Jonathan’s candidacy. As a principled party, it is not possible for the DPP to endorse APC or General Buhari after earlier throwing its weight behind President Jonathan.

“Members of the media and indeed the APC and its candidate are advised to always verify the identity and affiliation of persons who claim to be speaking on behalf of or representing the DPP. This is because our investigations have shown that persons who had since Left the DPP are cashing in on the electioneering period to impersonate existing members.

“We therefore distance the DPP from the purported endorsement of the APC and strongly reaffirm our endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan, whose victory we are working for in next week’s election”, the statement read.

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