The All Progressives Congress APC appeal panel for Kogi state APC Primary has cleared the former Chief of Naval Staff. Usman Jibrin CFR and Ex-The National Space Research and Development Agency NARSDA boss Seidu Onailo for the coming thursday primary in Lokoja.
Yahaya Bello, the Governor of Kogi, and three other others were cleared by the six-member committee while 12 others were disqualified mostly on the grounds of not being “financial members” and “invalid nomination form”.
THE OBSERVERS TIMES had earlier reported Mustapha Audu, one of the disqualified aspirants and son of the late Abubakar Audu, alleging that Mr Oshiomhole was doing the bidding of Governor Bello rather than ensuring a level playing ground for all aspirants.
Reacting to these allegations the party’s spokesperson, Lanre Issa-Onilu, denied the involvement of the NWC in the screening.
He called on the aggrieved aspirants to seek redress with the appeal panel as the screening followed the party’s constitution.
“Screening of aspirants is a constitutional issue. There are clear procedures for the conduct of screening of aspirants in our party’s constitution and the Electoral Act,” he said. “The screening itself is not the final stage in the qualification process. Aspirants who have objections to outcomes of screening have the opportunity of presenting their case before the Appeal Panel.”
He said both the screening and appeal committees are independent of the National Working Committee “as far as their activities are concerned”.
