Rivers Assembly: Fubara loyalists reject APC screening report

Rivers Assembly: Fubara loyalists reject APC screening report

A myriad of complaints have trailed the report released by the Rivers State House of Assembly screening committee of the All Progressives Congress held in Port Harcourt at the weekend.

Recall that the committee chaired by Ajibola Muraina released its final report following a two-day screening exercise held on Saturday and Sunday at the APC secretariat in the Rivers State capital.

From the report obtained by our correspondent on Monday morning, a total of 33 aspirants were cleared, while 65 others were not cleared.

Our correspondent reports that the four-man committee cleared 33 aspirants, including 28 serving members of the state House of Assembly loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, led by the Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol, to contest the APC primaries for the Assembly poll in 2027.

The House Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, who is eyeing the Green Chamber of the National Assembly, has already been screened by the APC national secretariat.

A total of 98 aspirants were screened by the committee for the House of Assembly tickets.

The committee reportedly disqualified all 32 aspirants adopted by Governor Siminalayi Fubara, including former factional speaker, Victor Oko-Jumbo.

A total of 65 aspirants were disqualified by the committee according to the report signed by Ajibola (Chairman), Ishaku Tanko Yamawo, Secretary, Abdullah Hajia Aisha Abdullahi Adamu, member and Danjuma Samuel, member.

The committee said it adopted a transparent, orderly, and participatory procedure designed to ensure fairness to all aspirants, saying it screened all 98 aspirants who turned up.

The report read, “The screening committee constituted by the National Working Committee of the party respectfully submits its report on the screening exercise conducted for aspirants seeking nomination under the platform of the party for election into the Rivers State House of Assembly for the 2027 General Elections.

“The committee discharged its mandate with diligence, fairness, transparency, and fidelity to the democratic ideals and progressive principles of the party.”

The committee further said the exercise was largely peaceful and orderly, adding that aspirants conducted themselves with maturity and decorum throughout the exercise, except “Mr Victor Oko-Jumbo, who insisted on entering the screening venue with a retinue of security aides, thereby resulting in a disagreement with officers of the Nigeria Police Force on duty.

“The security agents successfully put the situation under control, and the screening continued smoothly.”

The committee also said one of the aspirants attempted to bribe its members and was handed over to the police.

“In the course of the committee’s sitting, Mr Tonye Garrick Tom-George, an aspirant for the Asari Toru 1 seat, approached the committee and handed over an envelope containing money together with his passport photograph in an apparent attempt to improperly influence the screening process. The incident was reported to the police,” it added.

While noting that the committee received petitions against some aspirants from some concerned persons, it said aspirants presented complete and satisfactory documentation, even as discrepancies observed in some submissions were duly noted.

From the report seen by our reporter, the three pro-Fubara lawmakers, Oko-Jumbo, Sokari Goodboy and Timothy Orubibanugha, were disqualified, as well as a notable ally of the governor, Chijiole Ihunwo, among other loyalists.

The report, however, stated, “The committee respectfully recommends the following aspirants who successfully satisfied the requirements of the screening exercise and are hereby cleared to participate in the party primaries for the Rivers State House of Assembly elections, Maol Dumle (serving deputy speaker), Major Jack (serving House leader), Enemi Alabo George (serving House spokesman),” among 30 others.

The committee listed 10 reasons for the ‘non-clearance’ of the other aspirants as follows ‘nominations by persons who are not financially up to date members of the party, contrary to Article 9.3 of the party constitution, inducement and attempted bribery of committee members, submission of unsworn affidavits, failure to present voters cards, failure to present party membership slips or cards, conflicting dates of birth’.

Others are “failure to confirm payment of membership dues by nominators, irregular party membership numbers of nominators, inconsistencies in names appearing on submitted documents, insufficient nominators with required numbers which fall short of three nominators per ward and invalid affidavits that failed to disclose material particulars relating to NECO certificates.

“The committee is satisfied that it diligently and faithfully discharged the responsibility entrusted to it. The screening exercise was conducted in substantial compliance with the constitution and guidelines of the party and reflected the democratic spirit for which the party stands,” the report concluded.

However, in a turn of events, the committee secretary issued a disclaimer on the report released by the screening committee, describing it as false and unauthorised, adding that it did not emanate from the appropriate party authorities.

According to the secretary of the screening committee for Rivers State, Tanko Yamowa, the committee concluded the exercise less than 24 hours ago, and no official list had been released by the party at this time.

Yamowa, in the letter dated May 11th, titled “Re: Disclaimer on Purported Screened Aspirants’ List,” said, “The attention of the party leadership has been drawn to the circulation of a purported list of cleared and uncleared aspirants for the Rivers State House of Assembly currently making rounds across various media platforms.”

The APC chieftain urged party faithful, aspirants, supporters, and the general public to disregard the purported list, describing it as the handiwork of mischief makers whose play is to create confusion and unnecessary tension within the party.

The letter read, “We wish to categorically state that the said publication is false, unauthorised, and does not emanate from the appropriate party authorities.

“It is important to note that the screening exercise conducted by the committee headed by Muraina Ajibola was concluded less than 24 hours ago, and no official list has been released by the party at this time.

“As a responsible political party, we are guided by established procedures, rules, and timelines regarding the publication of screening results and related information.

“Any official communication concerning the status of aspirants will be communicated through the appropriate channels in due course.

“We, therefore, urge party faithful, aspirants, supporters, and the general public to disregard the purported list and treat it as the handiwork of mischief makers whose intention is to create confusion and unnecessary tension within the party.

“The party remains committed to transparency, fairness, and due process throughout the entire exercise.”

Meanwhile, an aspirant for the Asari Constituency 1 seat, Mr Tom-George, whom the committee accused of bribery attempt in a bid to influence the process, has denied the allegation.

Tom-George, speaking in Port Harcourt, described the allegation as contained in the committee report as false, insisting that as a law-abiding citizen, he abhors corruption.

He challenged the committee to provide evidence to validate its claims.

He stated, “I can never influence anybody. In fact, this is just a screening, not even an election, so why will I go with money to influence who, how? I don’t understand where that is coming from.

“So I must tell you that it is false and my lawyers are coming with something to refute it because I can never influence anybody and I have never met the chairman of the committee or any member of the committee to say influence this on my behalf or on behalf of anybody.

“Let them come up with proof that I, Tonye Tom-George, came to ask them to influence anything on behalf of anybody.”

Reacting to his disqualification, one of the aspirants for Andoni Constituency, Gogo-Ogute Isaiah, expressed dismay with the report but said the reasons had not been officially communicated to him.

Isaiah, whose name is 54 on the committee’s report, said he paid his dues and met all the criteria for the screening, pointing out that he would like to know the specific reasons he was kicked out, other than what he read in newspapers and social media.

“I have not been officially told why I didn’t scale the screening. I know I paid my party dues, paid for the form, and met every financial obligation required of me. I also attended the screening.

“However, the party has not specifically communicated the outcome of my screening beyond what I have seen on social media. My name was simply lumped together with others, along with general reasons for disqualifying over 50 people.

“I have not been told the specific reason for my disqualification. I know I have all my documents intact, met all party requirements, and submitted everything required.

“Yet, they have not officially communicated any reason for my disqualification apart from what I have read on social media and online newspapers, where my name was lumped together with others who were disqualified on what I consider trumped-up grounds, with no specific reasons given.”

Also speaking, another affected aspirant who pleaded anonymity for fear of being victimised rejected the committee’s report, saying what transpired was not good for party cohesion, especially for a ruling party.

He queried why all 32 aspirants, including serving members of the state House of Assembly loyal to the FCT minister, were given a clean bill of health by the screening committee.

According to him, “The whole thing is funny because you cannot tell me that out of 98 aspirants, 32 of the Nyesom Wike family alone are those that scaled the screening. How come none of them has any challenge?

“For example, some of the issues may be in your CV where there is a typographical error. Is that not something they can say, go and correct? Is that enough to disqualify someone?”

While insisting that he fulfilled all the criteria needed for the screening and qualified to become an aspirant, he said many of the reasons advanced by the committee were not tenable.

He further argued that the duration of the screening and the time the report was released suggested that the outcome was predetermined.

“Then, along the line, you begin to say we did not pay dues for those who nominated us. What does that mean? Now the screening ended around 3pm on Sunday, so how possible is it that by midnight the result is out?

“It shows that it is a predetermined result that was just released, and they just used party dues as a joker to disqualify people,” he added.

The aggrieved aspirant said the idea of a contest is for the best to emerge and wondered if the party wants to contest the main election with a divided house.

He said, “Some other persons had discrepancies in their names. Okay, in that regard, you can swear to an affidavit to cover that. My worry in the whole thing is that we are all party members, not enemies joining issues. We are a family and trying to pick the best.

“So if there are challenges, they can say, ‘You look at your challenge and rectify it,’ and then we go to the field. That is what I expect that we should do as a party, so that there will be cohesion because, at the end of the day, one person will be the candidate.

“We know all of that, and we are expected to work for the candidate as party members. But a situation where you are kicked out of the system using one or two flimsy reasons, no one will be happy. How can we be happy to work for the party?

“Are they not considering all of that? Are we going to face other political parties in the main election with grudges?”

Another aspirant, Solomon Lenu, said the screening committee report was compromised and queried why only aspirants aligned with the FCT minister were cleared.

Lenu, who was also screened out, further said the report did not reflect true democracy.

He noted that such actions weakened the democratic process and could result in confusion and instability within the system. “There is no way you will say in good conscience that everybody who came through the alliance of the FCT minister got everything cleared, while everybody who came from every other side had issues that prevented them from being cleared.

“It is just a political gambit. Things like this weaken our democracy, and you can see how they are hurriedly saying we can go for an appeal and all of that because they also know that going to appeal, you are not going to get anything from it.

“People now sit down in the comfort of their homes, plan the political damnation of others and then make their own decision and foist it on the generality of the people,” he said.

He vowed to resist any attempt by the party to disqualify him, even as he dismissed the criteria used by the committee, noting that there was no issue with his documents.

“I’m a detailed person. I had to do research on what we’re required to do, even when the party did not give adequate information, because the information they gave was very sparsely disseminated and conflicting at the same time.

“But I tried to ensure that I got everything, my academic credentials, my voters’ card, my party card, my membership dues, nomination, everything was okay. So I wait to see what they will say is the reason why I was not cleared,” he said.

The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Chibike Ikenga, in a statement on Monday, asked all aspirants who purchased forms for the screening to check their status on the notice board at the APC Secretariat in Port Harcourt.

Ikenga said appeals arising from the screening outcome should be submitted through the party secretariat.