Kwara APC screens 158 aspirants for House of Assembly seats, assures fairness

No fewer than 158 aspirants on Monday participated in the screening exercise conducted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 24 House of Assembly seats in Kwara State ahead of the next general elections.

The party leadership, while addressing the aspirants in Ilorin, assured them of a transparent and credible screening process aimed at producing qualified candidates for the polls.

Speaking at the exercise, Chairman of the Screening Committee, Prof. Success Musa, said the large number of aspirants reflected the growing popularity, internal democracy and acceptance of the APC in Kwara State.

According to him, the national leadership of the party carefully selected members of the screening committee based on credibility and competence.

“I learnt we have 158 aspirants for the House of Assembly alone. That is democracy. That is what APC represents. It is the leadership shown by the chairman and our governor,” he said.

Prof. Musa noted that the exercise was necessary to prevent avoidable mistakes capable of affecting the party’s electoral fortunes, citing the Bayelsa governorship case where the APC lost its mandate following issues relating to candidate qualification.

“We will screen all of you because we do not want what happened in Bayelsa State to happen here. In Bayelsa, we won the election but lost the mandate after the Supreme Court judgment over qualification issues,” he said.

He assured the aspirants that the exercise would be conducted seamlessly and urged them to cooperate with the committee throughout the process.

The committee chairman also advised dissatisfied aspirants to channel their grievances through the appeal committee established by the party after the screening exercise.

“If you have any issue after the screening, kindly report to the Appeal Committee. Thereafter, support the winner. All of you cannot emerge as candidates at the same time. APC is a large family and we must continue to maintain peace,” he added.

Also speaking, the Kwara State APC Chairman, Mr Sunday Fagbemi, said the exercise was designed to ensure that all aspirants met the constitutional and party requirements necessary to contest the elections.

Fagbemi stressed that the party would not allow avoidable documentation errors to undermine its chances at the polls.

“The process of obtaining nomination forms is over. The responsibility now lies with the party to properly screen and prepare aspirants for the election,” he said.

He disclosed that the screening appeal committee would begin sitting immediately after the exercise to entertain complaints from aggrieved aspirants.

According to him, the APC remains committed to fairness, transparency and due process in all its activities.

“It is not enough for justice to be done, it must also be seen to be done. That is what the party stands for,” Fagbemi said.

He further urged the aspirants to maintain orderliness and conduct themselves peacefully throughout the exercise.