Former Senate President and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential screening committee, Senator David Mark, has explained why two presidential aspirants were disqualified from the party’s ticket race on Friday.
According to Mark, the committee had screened 17 aspirants which lasted over 10 hours. 15 were cleared to contest in the primaries, while two failed to meet the requirements set by the panel.
The disqualified aspirants also have the right to appeal to the screening appeal committee set up by the party, Mark said.
When asked after the screening exercise what the committee found wrong with the disqualified aspirants, Mark said, “They didn’t meet the requirements and I can’t be more specific about that.”
The Chairman of the PDP screening committee, however, declined to reveal the identities of the disqualified aspirants or give explicit details on the reasons why the two aspirants were disqualified.
Mark, who stated that the report of the screening would be transmitted to the PDP National Working Committee for consideration on the same day (Friday) stated, “The exercise, as far as we’re concerned, went on very well. We’ve been here since morning, and I’m sure you people have been here since morning also.
“We’ve been very thorough this time. See how much time we’ve taken to screen each individual who has been here. We screened 17 aspirants, which is quite a number. We cleared 15 and two have not been cleared.
“Now, don’t ask me those who have been cleared and those who have not been cleared, because I won’t tell you. We haven’t released the result to them. So, if you ask a question in that direction, you’re wasting time.
“I think on the whole, that’s what we’ve done. And we’re quite satisfied with the standard of the aspirants by and large. And we think that any one of them, who gets the ticket, will win the election in 2023.”
The 17 screened aspirants are; Teriela Oliver, the only female aspirant in the race; former governor of Sokoto, Aminu Tambuwal; Nyesom Wike of Rivers; Governor of Bauchi, Bala Mohammed; Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom; as well as investment banker and economist, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen; former Anambra State governor Peter Obi; former Senate President, Pius Anyim, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; former Senate President, Bukola Saraki; former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose; ex-President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Sam Ohuabunwa; a United States-based medical doctor, Nwachukwu Anakwenze; Publisher, Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu; former Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Cosmos Ndukwe; Charles Ugwu; and Chikwendu Kalu.
In all, Mark said the panel was satisfied with the standard of the aspirants and whoever “gets the ticket would win the election in 2023.”
Recall that the PDP had announced the constitution of a screening committee saddled with the responsibility to assess presidential aspirants contesting the party’s ticket ahead of the PDP’s national congress slated for May 28-29.
