BEVERLY HILLS, May 02, (THEWILL) – Kaduna State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) says 38 of the 115 aspirants who purchased nomination forms to contest the chairmanship positions of thier various local government areas are not suitable to contest the party’s primaries ahead of the election.
Some of the reasons for their disqualification included previous indictmen, which the APC said fielding them might not be good for the party image on the long run, among other reasons.
THEWILL had reported that the party organised written examination for the chairmanship aspirants, being the first in the history of Nigeria as a pre-condition for qualfication to contest for the local government chairmanship elections on the platform of the APC.
The aspirants were equally subjected to a thorough oral interview by a panel of 17 members made up of Professors, Lawyers and other professionals, among others.
They were also made to write biographical essays on their life, schools attended, work experience, places lived or visited within Kaduna State, Nigeria and abroad.
Of the total 115 aspirants that obtained the forms to contest for the party tickets at the primaries, 75 of them were declared suitable for contesting the primary election and 38 were declared unsuitable while two of the aspirants failed to return their nomination forms.
Speaking on the fate of those declared not suitable, the APC state chairman, Air Commodore Emmanuel Jekada (rtd), said: “Do you expect all of them to be successful? The essence of the exam and screening is basically to ensure that those that are not suitable having been given equal opportunities to prove themselves are not allowed to go into the primaries.
“We are doing this to ensure that it is not business as usual and to strengthen the party ahead of the primaries and the actual election and if the list we pasted at the state secretariat is what you have, that is the results of the examination and screening.”
Among those who failed the party examination is an incumbent local government chairman of one of the local government areas in Kaduna Central on the account of indictment by the report of the auditor-general in 2019 for mismanagement of public funds/financial misapropraition in his local government.
Also, the ALGON chairman in the state and one other incumbent chairman are also not lucky to get the nod of their party to seek reelection.
However, in a dramatic development, one of the incumbent chairmen in Southern Kaduna, who was declared suitable to contest, has withdrawn from the race for reasons yet to be ascertained.
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