The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday screened 158 aspirants for the 24 House of Assembly seats in Kwara State as the leadership of the party promised a credible screening process.
Addressing the aspirants before the commencement of the screening exercise, the Chairman of the Screening Committee, Success Musa, attributed the high number of aspirants to the acceptability, popularity and internal democracy within the party.
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“I learnt we have 158 aspirants for the House of Assembly alone. That is democracy. That is what APC represents. It is the leadership shown by the chairman and our governor.
“I bring greetings from the national leadership of our great party and the entire national working committee of our party. We were selected based on our credibility. We are entrusted with this assignment to come to Kwara to ensure that we screen everybody,” he said.
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Mr Musa explained that the screening was to ensure that the party avoid mistakes capable of jeopardising its chances at the polls, recalling the experience in Bayelsa where the party lost its mandate following a Supreme Court judgement over qualification issues.
“We will screen all of you because we don’t want what happened in Bayelsa State, which is very recent in our mind, to happen to any of you.
“In Bayelsa, we won an election and when the governor-elect was about to be sworn-in, the Supreme Court delivered judgement and our collective mandate was delivered to the present governor. But, at least, I am happy now that the governor is now in the APC
“Be assured that we will do everything seamlessly. We need your cooperation. Kwara State has come of age. Kwara is at the heart of the North-central. Let us show maturity,” he added.
The committee chairman assured aspirants that the exercise would be conducted fairly and urged them to cooperate with officials.
He also appealed to aggrieved aspirants to channel complaints through the appeal committee set up by the party.
“If you have any issue after the screening, kindly report to the Appeal Committee. Thereafter, support the winner. All of you cannot be our candidates at the same time. APC is a very large family. You can see the peace we are enjoying in the APC. Let’s keep peace,” Mr Musa advised.
For his part, the Kwara APC chairman, Mr Sunday Fagbemi, said the screening exercise was aimed at ensuring that all aspirants met the requirements needed to contest the elections.
Mr Fagbemi said the party would not allow avoidable errors in documentation to undermine its electoral success.
“The process of obtaining nomination forms is over. The responsibility now lies with the party to properly screen and prepare aspirants for the election,” he said.
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The chairman added that a screening appeal committee would commence sitting immediately after the screening exercise to address complaints from aspirants.
According to him, the APC remains committed to fairness, transparency and due process.
“It is not enough for justice to be done, it must also be seen to be done. That is what the party stands for,” Mr Fagbemi said.
He urged aspirants to conduct themselves in an orderly manner throughout the exercise, noting that all aspirants would be screened accordingly.
An aspirant and Leader, Kwara State House of Assembly, Oba Abdulkadir, praised the screening committee for the orderly and seamless exercise.
Another aspirant, AbdulRasheed Akogun, said the process has been open to all party members interested in flying the party’s flag.
Also speaking, a female aspirant, Fatimah Jiyah, said about 30 per cent of the aspirants are females, praising the gender-inclusion policy of the Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration.
