…Threatens aspirants with dubious, criminal records
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has fixed May 23rd for the screening of its presidential aspirants for the 2023 general elections.
The Party’s National Organising Secretary, Suleiman Argungu, disclosed this on Saturday, in Abuja, when he fielded reporters’ questions shortly after the inauguration of chairmen and secretaries of the party’s screening committees for House of Representatives, Senate and governorship aspirants.
The APC Special Convention for the presidential primaries would hold from May 30 to June 1.
According to Argungu: “The screening for the presidential aspirants, we have so far 28 presidential aspirants and as you are all aware, some aspirants have started withdrawing their aspirations. And by God’s grace on May 23, those that are left for the screening proper will be screened”.
The committees’ chairmen and secretaries were inaugurated by the APC Deputy National Chairman-North, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, on behalf of the National Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu.
Speaking at the ceremony, Kyari, said that a total of 145 governorship aspirants would be screened by three panels, while 351 senate aspirants would be screened by four panels for the party’s 2023 ticket. He said that a total of 1,197 House of Representatives aspirants would also be screened by 10 panels.
While acknowledging that there was a long hurdle ahead of the committees, Kyari appealed to the members to be patient and to ensure proper screening of aspirants in order to ensure that the best candidates emerged at the end.
He welcomed members of the committees, saying that they had a free hand to do what was required of them, adding that they would always be supported by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) when necessary.
Recall that the APC had fixed its governorship primaries for May 20, House of Assembly, on May 22, House of Representatives on May 24, and Senate on May 25.
The list of presidential aspirants that submitted their nomination forms includes: Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a former two-term Lagos State Governor and APC National Leader.
Others were former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Niger-Delta Development, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, and former Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu.
The party had reportedly begun the screening of the House of Representatives and governorship aspirants at designated hotels in Abuja.
Meanwhile, the APC screening committee has threatened to abandon aspirants with criminal records who may fail to disclose them to the party. The party warned that it would not come to the aid of any aspirant with cases of misconduct, including fraud and conviction, who does not use the opportunity provided by the screening exercise to divulge it before the panel.
According to some aspirants,
this was one of the issues raised yesterday by the committee when aspirants for the National Assembly appeared for the exercise.
Other questions posed to the aspirants covered evidence of disengagement from their place of work, payment of N7,600 annual dues and clearance in case of conviction. The committee, however, gave a window of opportunity for some aspirants who had issues with payment of annual dues and their credentials.
