Former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe has withdrawn as the running mate of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP).
Okupe made this known via his Twitter handle on Thursday.
“This afternoon I submitted my withdrawal letter from the position of the Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party to INEC. A replacement will be announced by d national chairman of d party shortly. I feel greatly blessed to hv been part of the foundation of success 4 the LP,” he said.
It will be recalled that Peter Obi had on June 16 returned his completed nomination forms to INEC with the name of Dr Okupe as his placeholder running mate.
This was done in compliance with the Electoral Law 2022 and INEC guidelines regarding the June 17 deadline for the submission of the names of running mates.
According to the Electoral Act, a political party cannot substitute a candidate that has been validly nominated except in two instances; if the nominated candidate dies or if the nominated candidate withdraws from the race.
However, in terms of withdrawal, the nominated candidate is mandated to write a letter to the political party that nominated him, indicating that he has withdrawn from the race and that must also be accompanied by an affidavit duly sworn to by the said candidate.
