Contrary to news reports, the ruling All Progressives Congress on Saturday denied disqualifying 10 presidential aspirants.
This clarification was made today by the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, while addressing newsmen at the party secretariat in Abuja.
The paragraphs below of the screening report of the John Odigie-Oyegun-led committee had caused confusion regarding whether some aspirants have been disqualified:
“So, the ability to lead, background, experience and your understanding of the Nigerian situation, your ideas as to how issues, difficulties and problems can be addressed and how the country can be moved forward became a critical consideration. It is on that basis who are you, what have you achieved, your understanding of the nation and things you can contribute to move the nation forward. It was on the basis of that we made our final shortlist.
I don’t list the names. I think I will leave that to you. We have a shortlist which brought the number down to 13. We could have cut it a little shorter. But we wanted a pedigree with a longer element to surface. For them to be seen whether to be noticed, who knows? We hand them over to the party. And it is for the party to decide who their preferred candidate will be.”
While dousing the tension created following the screening report’s submission, Adamu disclosed that the 13 aspirants being touted as the successful candidates were only recommended as first-class materials.
“I want to say very clearly that no aspirant has been disqualified. It’s like sitting in an exam. Even if you pass there is grading from first-class to ordinary pass.
So, no aspirant was disqualified. Incidentally, the president has invited all of them to a dinner today,” he said”