RUNNING mate of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) in the February 23 presidential election Haruna Yahaya-Shaba has dissociated himself from the suit instituted by the party’s presidential candidate, Ambrose Owuru.

Yahaya-Shaba, who doubles as the party’s Deputy National Chairman, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja yesterday.

He said he was working with other National Executive Committee (NEC) members against the legal action taken by Owuru.

He said: “We called an emergency NEC meeting to discuss very serious issues affecting our great party. We have taken the decision to instruct our lawyers to communicate the decision of the NEC to the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) sitting in Abuja.

“In the last two weeks, I have been inundated with calls from many party members, including some NEC members, to explain the information that our party has filed a petition at the PEPT sitting in Abuja.”

He said many people were shocked when he explained that as the deputy national chairman and the vice presidential candidate of the HDP, he only heard of the news of filing petition at the tribunal from the media.

Yahaya-Shaba said: “HDP is not a personal property of any individual. It is, therefore, illegal and unacceptable for any individual in the party to take such a unilateral decision without getting official approval of the Party.

“As the running mate of the party in the last presidential election, I therefore dissociate myself from this unilateral action.”

He also disclosed that the HDP NEC had also constituted a seven-man committee to investigate allegations against Owuru that he allegedly received substantial amount of money from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to file the petition.