Professor Kingsley Moghalu has said he was neither consulted nor gave consent for his name to appear on former vice president Atiku Abubakar’s policy team for the 2027 presidential campaign.
The former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria issued the clarification on Thursday after the African Democratic Congress campaign published a list of campaign officials. The statement, released by Atiku’s aide Phrank Shaibu, named Mohammed Hayatudeen as chair of the policy team, with Professor Mohammed Sagagi and others, including Moghalu, listed as members. Kashim Ibrahim Imam was named chairman of the campaign council, with Nasir El Rufai as deputy chairman and Senator Austin Akobundu as director general.
Moghalu said he was surprised to see the announcement.
“I was not consulted and did not give my consent to my name being published as a member of the ADC candidate’s policy team,” he wrote. “I am not, in fact, a member of Atiku’s policy team, even unofficially or in any advisory capacity.”
He said he left partisan politics in Nigeria in 2022 and has kept a non partisan stance in national affairs. He is not a member or sympathiser of any political party.
His principal work, he said, is as president of IGETAfrica, described as a non partisan public policy think tank and executive education academy, and as chief executive of Sogato Strategies, a geopolitical risk and regulatory strategy advisory firm.
“I remain committed to my country, Nigeria and its progress, but such commitment does not have to entail any partisan alignment. I have adopted the path of statesmanship, not partisanship.”
Moghalu served as deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2009 to 2014. He contested the 2019 presidential election on the Young Progressives Party platform and later associated with the ADC before withdrawing from partisan activity. He signed the statement as Professor Kingsley Moghalu, former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ifekaego Nnewi.
By John James
