State Assembly aspirants’ screening: Lagos APC announces indefinite postponement

Lagos State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has announced the indefinite postponement of its screening exercise scheduled to hold on Tuesday at the party secretariat on ACME Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja for aspirants contesting for the State House of Assembly seat.

Spokesperson of the party, Mr Joe Igbokwe, confirmed this development to journalists after emerging from an exco meeting, long after contestants, who turned up for the exercise in large number as early as 8 in the morning, armed with their papers, had left the party office disappointed.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that over 230 aspirants, including seating members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, are jostling for the available 40 seats in the state.

According to Igbokwe, the exercise had to be postponed because the screening panel from the APC National Headquarters, Abuja failed to turn up, saying that in the absence of the team, nothing could be done by the state chapter of the party.

The party chieftain, who could not offer any explanation on why the screening panel from the APC National Headquarters failed to turn up for the exercise, said the screening would now hold once the panel was around.

“The screening could not hold again today because the panel from Abuja did not come. They are the ones in charge and they have to be around to conduct the exercise,” he said.

Efforts made to speak with the party chairman, Alhaji Tunde Balogun or the secretary failed as both of them were said to be busy in their offices attending to some urgent party matters.

However, a top source in the party, who did not want his name in print, said the screening had been postponed indefinitely for the same reason that the panel from the APC office in Abuja was still being expected.

He also could not say why the Abuja team failed to turn up for the exercise, but quickly said that there was still enough time for the exercise to hold between now and October 5, 2018, when the primaries to pick the candidates for the Lagos State House of Assembly election would be held.

Meanwhile, the Lagos APC spokesperson, Igbokwe, stated that primaries to pick the party’ presidential and governorship candidates for the 2019 General Elections would be holding throughout the 245 wards making the state on Friday and Saturday respectively.

According to him, the party exco meeting, from where he emerged, was basically to discuss preparations towards holding peaceful and successful exercises on Friday and Saturday, assuring that, the exercises would be hitch-free and successful.

“The exco meeting deliberated on how we are going to hold peaceful, hitch-free and successful primaries. You know the presidential primaries would come up on Friday and the governorship primaries would follow on Saturday. They are going to be held statewide in all the 245 wards in the state. It is all about putting everything into action. That is what we discussed to ensure that everything went on smoothly,” he said.