Gale of disqualifications as PDP screens aspirants across states

SEVERAL aspirants to the National Assembly and governorship seats have been disqualified by various screening committees set up across the zones and states ahead of party primaries. 

In Zamfara, the screening committee disqualified some aspirants on the grounds of academic certificates and other relevant credentials in the state. 

The development led to a sharp disagreement among some members of the party in the state, with some demanding that the exercise be put on hold or scheduled. 

The parties later reached a compromise that allowed the committee to carry out the exercise as planned and issued certificates to the cleared aspirants. 

In Kogi, the PDP committee for the state disqualified UboloItodo Okpanachi and Aminu Abubakar Suleiman from the Kogi East senatorial contest over alleged acts of misconduct. 

Similarly, out of the seven aspirants vying for the Kogi Central senatorial seat, four including a former Senator, Ahmed Ogembe, were disqualified. 

Ogembe was reportedly disqualified for taking the party to court over the issue of Natasha Akpoti, who joined the party after defecting from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to the PDP. 

The result of the screening exercise in Lokoja, the state capital, showed that while Isaac Alfa and Victor Adoji received the nod of the committee to proceed with their senatorial aspirations, Suleiman and Okpanachi were disqualified from the race. 

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Suleiman was screened out because he was said not be a registered voter in the senatorial district, while Okpanachi was not cleared over alleged involvement in anti-party activities and other petitions challenging his legibility to contest. 

However, the disqualified aspirants, are said to have indicated interest in approaching the party’s screening appeals committee to seek redress. 

Similarly, an aspirant to the House of Representatives from the Idah Federal Constituency, Honourable Ismail Inah Hussein, was disqualified on the grounds of alleged anti-party activities. 

In Bauchi, one of the gubernatorial aspirants, Ahmed Adamu Muazu was not screened in spite of purchasing the necessary forms. 

All efforts to get clarification on the development failed as all PDP state officials contacted did not respond. 

Another intriguing scenario is the screening of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ibrahim Kashim as a gubernatorial aspirant while he is yet to resign from his position, as directed by Governor Bala Mohammed. 

The insinuation in some political circles is that Kashim is holding the space for the governor in case he is unsuccessful in his presidential bid. 

There were unconfirmed reports that the Bauchi governor may have been screened as a gubernatorial aspirant. Nigerian Tribune learnt that virtually all the aspirants at all levels in Plateau State were cleared except a state House of Assembly contestant, who was not issued a clearance certificate because of discrepancies in the credentials he presented before the committee. 

A total of 22 gubernatorial aspirants were cleared to contest for the primary; all the 12 senatorial aspirants were also cleared along with 25 House of Representatives aspirants and issued certificates while all the 152 aspirants for State Assembly primary were cleared with except one. Twelve governorship aspirants, including Chief Kenneth Gbagi, Chief David Edevbie, Senator James Manager and Speaker Sheriff Oborevwori, were last Friday, cleared as the PDP aspirants for the governorship primary in Delta State. 

The South-South screening committee, however, declared the clearance as ‘provisional’ for all the 12 governorship aspirants who presented themselves before the screening committee headed by Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri. 

However, checks revealed that the committee received about six petitions against some of the provisionally cleared aspirants. 

In Taraba State, Kefas Agbu, the chairman of PDP, told Nigerian Tribune that the party screened 180 aspirants in the state. 

According to him, seven aspirants were screened for governorship; nine for senate; 23 for the House of Representatives and 141 for the state House of Assembly. 

The chairman said no aspirant was disqualified either on the health, academic grounds, age or otherwise. 

In Ebonyi, eight senatorial aspirants were screened, while a total of 89 aspirants for House of Assembly alone were screened and cleared In Rivers, all but one of the 17 candidates who bought their expression of interest and nomination forms for the 2023 governorship election were cleared. 

Only Dr Farah Dagogo, the member representing Bonny/Degema constituency in the House of Representatives was not cleared because he did not present himself for the screening. 

Meanwhile, the lawmaker actually came to the SouthSouth PDP secretariat, venue of the screening to participate in the exercise but was arrested by the police because he was declared wanted by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, for allegedly hiring cultists to disrupt the state and national assembly candidates screening held a day earlier than the governorship screening.