The All Progressives Congress (APC) has finally announced that the screening of its aspirants will begin today, after keeping members and aspirants in suspense throughout the past weekend.
As previously reported by Bendelnews, while aspirants to various positions on the party's National Working Committee (NWC) throng the party secretariat to be screened ahead of the national convention, which is scheduled for the 2nd of this month, the party has yet to officially set a date for the screening exercise.
In addition, it was reported that the inability of the geopolitical zones to agree on the aspirants to settle for in the micro-zoning process, late submission of forms by aspirants and poor preparation were among the reasons why the APC convention screening committee, which is chaired by Kastina State governor, Aminu Bello Masari, has yet to kick off the screening process, which is one of the procedures required for the convention to take place.
The paper had also reported that the screening process, which had been scheduled to be conducted in two batches, would now begin today instead of tomorrow.
As stated in a statement signed by Barr Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Otagburuagu, the secretary of the screening committee, Governor Masari, has invited aspirants for the exercise, which will take place in two batches between today and Wednesday.
While background checks are being conducted on their antecedents, each aspirant must appear before the screening panel to present their credentials and any other documentation that may be required of them during the screening process.
They will be screened in two batches at the Katsina State Governor's Lodge, Asokoro-Abuja, according to the statement released by the governor.
As a result, he stated that screening of aspirants for the national chairmanship and other NWC positions will take place today at a time that will be communicated to the aspirants on Wednesday, and that screening of aspirants for the zonal offices will take place the following day starting at 10am.
For the position of national chairmanship, approximately six candidates have obtained and submitted their nomination and expression of interest forms to the appropriate authorities.
Senators Tanko Al-Makura, Senator George Akume, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, former Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, Senator Sani Musa, former Congress for Progressive Change deputy national chairman, Malam Saliu Mustapha, former Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari, and the youngest of them, Muhammad Saidu Etsu, are the members of the delegation.
Furthermore, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, who is chairman of the convention's media committee, hinted yesterday that the governors on the APC platform have resolved their differences and have put all of the wrangling that followed the botched leadership change in the party behind them.
"The leadership of the party under Governor Mai Mala Buni and the members of the caretaker committee are making every effort to bring everyone along, and I believe that this is the only path to a successful Convention and election victory," Sule said during the formal inauguration of the media committee and its various subcommittees. "We believe in the power of unity in diversity, and this is the motto of our Convention."
Governor Sule stated that everything was now back to normal within the party, and that the plans for the convention, which is scheduled for next Saturday, are on track.
The media committee has been divided "into sub-committees that have swiftly moved on their various assignments in order to deliver a successful Convention six days from today," according to a statement issued by Garba Shehu, secretary of the media committee.