By David Lawani, Abuja
The Rivers State House of Assembly Screening Appeal Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has upheld the disqualification of several Assembly aspirants, deepening the crisis rocking the party in the state.
Chairman of the appeal committee, Abdul Mahmud, confirmed on Tuesday that the panel had received 19 appeals from disqualified aspirants following the controversial screening exercise conducted over the weekend in Port Harcourt.
Mahmud disclosed that the appeal window would close on Wednesday, after which the final list of cleared aspirants would be released.
“So far, we have received 19 appeals from aspirants who were not cleared during the screening exercise,” he told journalists.
“The process remains open until Wednesday, after which the committee will conclude its work and release the final list.”
The development comes amid mounting controversy over the screening exercise in which 65 aspirants were disqualified.
The crisis followed reports that Governor Siminalayi Fubara himself walked out of the APC governorship screening exercise in Abuja after a tense session with party officials.
The governor reportedly spent less than 20 minutes before the panel and declined to speak to journalists afterwards, simply saying, “No comment,” before leaving the venue.
The APC National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, had earlier declined to confirm whether the governor had been successfully screened, further fuelling speculation about internal disagreements within the party.
Among those reportedly disqualified are former factional Speaker Victor Oko-Jumbo and several other aspirants.
The appeal committee said the final decision on the aspirants would be made after reviewing all petitions submitted before the deadline.
