SAN FRANCISCO, June 10, (THEWILL) – As part of its preparations for the governorship election, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday inaugurated both the screening and appeal committees for its primary, slated for the June 22 Edo State primary.
At the inauguration in Abuja, the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, said the committees were made up of learned, highly educated and political grounded members.
He said under the constitution of the party, NWC was expected to set up a screening committee before any election, adding that the responsibility of the screening committee is to interact and interrogate all the aspirants.
He noted that due to what happened to the party in Bayelsa State earlier in the year, NWC decided to approach the issue of screening with all seriousness and thoroughness.
Oshiomhole said: “In the past, we have always performed this role but maybe we didn’t give it the appropriate weight; maybe we had assume that people who aspire to certain office, particularly elective high office, a governor or deputy governor for example that no one who is aspiring at that level will submit document that may border on forgery or border on conflicting information that could possibly lead to disqualification.
“So, the screening is not a formality and we expect you to be very meticulous in every material in particular to protect our party so that let it not be said that we did not learn anything from Bayelsa.
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“As you know, sometimes when things go wrong, everybody sees it that NWC did not do a thorough job. For me, the important lesson is if we have made a mistake in the past, we are taking the steps to correct it. I think this is what this exercise represents.”
Responding, the Chairman of the Screening Committee, Mr. Jonathan Ayuba, said the committee would conduct its assignment transparently.
Other members of the screening committee are Prof. Agbo Mafaki, Mr. Fort Dike, Dr. Rabe Nasir (Secretary), Hon. Ibrahim Zailani, Dr. Jane Agbu and Senator Aisha Binalil.
The Chairman of the Appeal Committee, Abubakar Sari, equally assured the party that the committee would do a thorough job to justify the confidence repose in them.
Other members of the appeal committee are: Mr. Gbenga Olubajo, Mohammed Idris, Dr. Abubakar Fari, Esther Bepeh and Mr. Daniel Bwala as Secretary.
