Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC) 2023 Presidential Screening Committee, has said that the committee engaged the 23 presidential aspirants that appeared before it on issues of consensus.
He said this on Friday in Abuja, while submitting the 7-man committee report to the party`s National Chairman Sen. Abdullahi Adamu.
“Our respected national chairman and other distinguished members of the National Working Committee(NWC), it is our pleasure to be here with you today to present our report to you.
“We had the privilege of being inaugurated by you on May 30, and we immediately started work same day, after a brief meeting.
“All the aspirants were engaged on the issue of consensus and it was a pleasant surprise that 98 to 99 per cent of them agreed that the party is supreme, that whatever it finally decides with proper consultations, would likely be accepted.
“Though one aspirant said that; yes I will accept consensus so long as it is settled on me.
“First, we had 23 presidential aspirants that we interacted with and my first comment is that we are indeed a very luck party,” Odigie-Oyegun said.
He added that though 23 presidential aspirants presented themselves for screening, there were other prominent Nigerians within and outside the country that applied but could not proceed with their applications.
He said the quality of the aspirants were unquestionable, adding that the committee was surprised at the active participation of youthful members of the party.
He added that the committee was particularly surprised by the life accomplishment of the youths in the race, their understanding of the country`s situations and why they wanted to have the privilege of governing her.
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“What was important was that they so believed in the country and the party that they were able to pay the sums they paid for its Expression of Interest and Nomination forms to participate in the process.
“So, I think the party ought to part itself on the back for that,’’ Odigie-Oyegun who was a former national chairman of the APC and a former Edo governor, said.
He explained that the committee`s report was in two aspects; the basic constitutional qualification to aspire to be a president of the country, and the ability to lead and background of the aspirant.
He said all the aspirants had the constitutional basic requirements and were qualified in that regard, because it was basic and simple.
“But we are a governing party, and we are keying on continuing the process and replacing at the proper time, our president with yet another member of the party,” he said.
He said for this reason, the ability of the aspirants to lead, their background, experience and understanding of the Nigerian situation became critical.
He said their ideas on how difficult issues and problems could be addressed and how they could move the country forward also became a critical consideration at the screening. (NAN)
