86 cleared, 59 disqualified for APC Benue Assembly primaries

Over 59 Aspirants under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Benue State Chapter, have been disqualified from participating in the party’s primaries for the 2027 Benue State House of Assembly elections.

Business Day gathered that 145 aspirants were billed to be screened by the party’s House of Assembly Screening Committee, out of which 86 were cleared to participate in the primaries or emerge through consensus arrangements

In a report, made release by the committee members Auwalu Ishiye, the Committee Chairman and Tijani Abdullahi, Secretary,
stated that the disqualifications were due to non-compliance with the party’s guidelines and constitution.

Reacting to the development, the State Organising Secretary of the party, James Ornguga, informed that an Appeal Committee had already commenced sitting on petitions submitted by all unsatisfied aspirants.

According to him, “The party sent two committees to the state. the Screening and the Appeal Committees. So, the Screening Appeal Committee headed by Alhaji Lawal Abubakar sat today (Tuesday) and they have received petitions from people who were not satisfied with the process.”

He said, “most of the issues that led to the disqualifications were linked to discrepancies in documents submitted by the aspirants”

“Since most of these problems arose from the documents that the aspirants presented, they are going to bring their petitions alongside the files containing the documents they brought for screening”

“And if there are people who actually did well and do not have issues but were unjustly disqualified, their names will be published tomorrow to continue,” he said.

He maintained that the screening exercise was conducted transparently, the party was not targeting any aspirant.

“The committee is working on that already. While in the hall, I think about 30 people came to complain. So, if in the end there is merit in their presentations, they will be cleared. So, the party holds no grudge against them.

Ornguga also said non-payment of party dues by some nominators, insufficient number of nominators, age discrepancies and inconsistencies in academic qualifications as some of the reasons for disqualification.

He said “like it is expected that all the people nominating you for this position are financial members of the party, meaning they are up to date with their dues, if somebody who is not a financial member nominates you and you are unable to bring evidence that he paid his dues, you can be disqualified because that is fraud.

He explained that there is provision for about 120 nominators. So, if you have less than that, it could also be a reason for your disqualification, disparities in ages is one among many factors.

“All things being equal, I must confess that the committee did a very good job to arrived at where we are now.”