The Chief John Odigie-Oyegun led Presidential Screening Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has axed 10 of the 23 presidential aspirants of the party.
Although it was not immediately possible to get the list of those affected the committee chairman said all the aspirants were qualified in terms of qualifications and constitutional requirements but his team had cut down the number based on six other factors.
The other factors, according to him are “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. It is on that basis, who are you? What have you achieved, your understanding of the nation and what things you can contribute to moving the nation forward? It was based on that we made our final shortlist.”
Odigie-Oyegun said his committee could have further pruned down the number but decided to give some of the youthful aspirants a chance.
He, however, dismissed speculations that the committee may have secretly screened former President Goodluck Jonathan, who was earlier said to be thinking of joining the APC to get its presidential ticket.
The committee also advised the party to address the issue of zoning between the North and South as regards the presidency as it has become a national discourse.
Read Also: APC Screening Committee Disqualifies 10 Presidential Aspirants
Chief Odigie-Oyegun spoke, yesterday, in Abuja at the National Secretariat of the party while submitting the report of his committee to the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee, NWC.
He said: “I know how short time has been. I know the environment in which you took over. We are quite happy to also do as much as we could to make the work of the party lighter. We had the privilege of being inaugurated by you on the 30th of May and we immediately started work on that very day after a brief meeting.
“First, we had 23 aspirants who we interacted with and my first comment is that we are indeed a very lucky party. Those were 23 who presented themselves. We had a lot of others, prominent Nigerians both within the country and outside who had applied, but for whatever reasons could not proceed with their applications. The point I want to make is the quality of the people who want to govern this country.
“The second point is that we were surprised by the active participation of youthful members of the party, some of who surprised us as to what they have accomplished in life, their understanding of the situation in this country and why they want to have the privilege of governing this country.
“What was important was that they so believe in the country and the party that they were able to pay the sums that some of us considered princely ransom to participate in the process. I think the party ought to pat itself on the back for that.
Source: Vanguard