The All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared that eminent academics, lawy- ers and politicians will conduct the screening of aspirants ahead of the party’s primaries for the Edo State governor- ship election. The APC national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who disclosed this yesterday while inau- gurating the Screening Committee led by Prof Jonathan Ayuba said Prof Abubakar Fari will chair the Appeals Committee.

Recall that the certificates of the aspirants were displayed for public scrutiny at the party’s national se- cretariat in Abuja last Monday. The aspirants are Governor God- win Obaseki, Dr. Pius Odubu, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Engr. Chris Ogiem- wonyi, Hon. Osaro Obazee and Hon. Mathew Iduoriyekemwen.

Speaking during the inaugura- tion of the committee, Oshiomhole said the resort to intellectuals in as- sessing the eligibility of the aspirants is meant to check against a repeat of the Bayelsa State experience where the party lost the governorship seat of the state at the Supreme Court be- cause of inconsistencies in the certi- ficate of its deputy governor-elect, de- spite winning the polls. He added that after intensive Muhammad consultations, the party decided to al- low persons with sound judgement ma- nage the screening process, stressing that their recommendations will be helpful. “Under our rules, we are expected to set up a screening committee before every election.

The responsibility of the screening committee is to interact with all those who have aspirations to contest, strictly speaking, not yet aspirants. “You become an aspirant after the screening committee has passed you. If anybody is dissatisfied with the screening committee’s recommendation, he/she will file an appeal and it will be forwarded to the Appeals committee and after that, they will make a final recommendation to the National Working Commit- tee (NWC) that has the final decision as to who is eligible or who is not eligible. “In the past, we have always performed this role but may be we did not give it the appropriate weight. Maybe, we assumed that people who want to aspire to certain offices particularly high elec- tive offices of executive governor, we ex- pect that no one will submit documents containing information that may possib- ly lead to disqualification. In the past, this was more of a formality but with what happened to us in Bayelsa State earlier this year, we decided to approach the issue of screening much more seriously than ever before,” the national chair- man said.

He however noted that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the par- ty retains the power to reject the result of the screening committee if there are discrepancies. “NWC can reject the screening result. Screening committee is High Court, Ap- peal Committee, Appeal Court and the NWC, the Supreme Court,” he said. ..Faction pastes credentials of aspirant in party’s new secretariat A faction of the APC, loyal to Oshiomhole has displayed credentials of all aspirants at its secretariat at No 18 Ig- hiwiyisi Street off Airport road. Aspirants whose credentials were pasted at the party’s secretariat are Go- vernor Godwin Obaseki, Pastor Osa- gie Ize-Iyamu, Egr Chris Ogienmwonyi, Osaro Obazee, Pius Odubu and Matthew Iduoriyekenmwen.

The publicity secretary of the fac- tion, Chris Azebanmwan said the display of the credentials was in line with deci- sion of the NWC, “Which decided that it would place all the names of the aspi- rants at its national secretariat and the state secretariat of the party. It is for the public to know who their aspirants are and what they claim to possess as qualification.” The APC national chairman had in a letter, notified the Independent Natio- nal Election Commission (INEC) of the party’s acquisition of a new secretariat in Benin. Reacting to the development, spo- kesperson of the faction loyal to Go- vernor Godwin Obaseki, Pastor Joseph Osagiede described the display of aspi- rants’ certificates at the factional party’s secretariat as illegal. “We don’t join issues with illegalities, that is an illegal act, it is unconstitutio- nal, it borders on sheer wrong doing for Oshiomhole to talk about a secretariat that does not exist,” he said.

The chairman of the faction, Anselm Ojezua had insisted that the party’s secretariat in the state remains at No 49 Airport Road Benin city. It was however learnt that the state government has initiated investigation into the status of the building housing the new secretariat. INEC Warns Parties Not To Jeopardise Health Of Nigerians Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that APC has informed it of its preferences for ‘direct primaries’ as its mode of primaries in Edo State. The electoral body noted that 14 other parties opted for ‘indirect primaries’ in the state. The electoral body also warned political parties to shun all acts capable of causing unrest in the state as well as jeopardizing the health and safety of party members, election officials and observers.

A statement by the national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, INEC, Festus Okoye, yesterday in Abuja, said that the ruling APC is the only party that has opted for direct primary election, adding that the other parties opted for indirect primary election. The other parties are AA, AAC, ADC, ADP and APGA. Others are APM, APP, LP, NNPP, NRM, PDP, SDP, YPP and ZLP. Okoye said the commission met virtually yesterday and considered several issues including the conduct of political party primaries for the Edo State Governorship election scheduled for 19 September 2020. According to him, ‘’In accordance with Sections 85 and 87 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), 15 out of the 18 registered Political Parties have notified the Commission of their intention to conduct primaries for the purpose of nominating candidates for the Edo State Governorship election slated for 19 September 2020.