Benue APC disqualifies 59 State Assembly aspirants
they can appeal – State Organising Sec
By Peter Duru, Makurdi
The Benue State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has disqualified 59 aspirants from contesting the party’s forthcoming House of Assembly primaries over alleged non-compliance with party guidelines and constitution.
The development followed the screening of 146 aspirants by the party’s House of Assembly Screening Committee, out of which 86 were cleared to participate in the primaries or emerge through consensus arrangements.
A copy of the screening report obtained by journalists and signed by the Committee Chairman, Auwalu Ishiye, and Secretary, Tijjani Abdullahi, stated that the affected aspirants were disqualified for “non compliance with party guidelines and party constitution.”
The party, however, said the affected aspirants have been granted the right to appeal the decision.
Speaking on the development, the State Organising Secretary of the party, Mr. James Ornguga, disclosed that an Appeal Committee had already commenced sitting on petitions submitted by dissatisfied aspirants.
According to him, “The committee entrusted with the responsibility had already started its works because unsuccessful candidates have the right of appeal. In fact, they have already filed their appeals.
“The party sent two committees to the state. There is the Screening Committee and the Screening Appeal Committee. So, the Screening Appeal Committee headed by Alhaji Lawal Abubakar sat today (Tuesday) and they have received petitions from people who felt dissatisfied with the process.”
Ornguga explained that most of the issues that led to the disqualifications were linked to discrepancies in documents submitted by the aspirants.
“Since most of these problems arose from the documents that the aspirants presented, they are going to match the petitions with their own files containing the documents as submitted to them.
“And if there are people who actually did well and do not have issues but were unjustly disqualified, their names will be published tomorrow to continue,” he said.
He maintained that the screening exercise was conducted diligently and without bias, stressing that the party was not targeting any aspirant.
“The committee is working on that already. While in the hall, I think about 30 people came to complain. So, if in the end there is merit in their presentations, they will be cleared. So, the party holds no grudge against them. There are simple issues that if you don’t obey, you run into crisis at a time like this,” he added.
Ornguga further cited non-payment of party dues by nominators, insufficient number of nominators, age discrepancies and inconsistencies in academic qualifications as some of the grounds for disqualification.
He said “like it is expected that all the people nominating you for this position must be financial members of the party, meaning they must have paid their party dues. Hence, if somebody who is not a financial member nominates you and you are unable to bring evidence that he paid his dues, you can be disqualified.
“There is provision for about 120 nominators. So, if you have less than that, it could also be a ground for your disqualification. Some of them have disparities in their ages.
“Some have inconsistencies in their qualifications. And the committee did a very diligent job and arrived at that. They are not witchhunting anybody,” he added.
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