Loyalists of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, dominated the list of aspirants cleared by the All Progressives Congress for the Rivers State House of Assembly primaries ahead of the 2027 general elections.
A report released by the Rivers State House of Assembly Screening Committee and obtained by our correspondent on Monday showed that 33 aspirants were cleared, while 65 others failed the screening exercise conducted at the party secretariat in Port Harcourt over the weekend.
Among those cleared were all 29 serving lawmakers in the State Assembly loyal to Wike and led by Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol.
The Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule, was, however, said to have obtained a nomination form to contest for a seat in the House of Representatives.
The committee reportedly screened 98 aspirants in total.
Also disqualified were the 32 aspirants allegedly backed by Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, including former factional Speaker, Victor Oko-Jumbo, and two other lawmakers loyal to the governor.
The screening panel, in its report signed by Chairman Muraina Ajibola and three other members, said the exercise was conducted in a transparent and orderly manner in line with the constitution and guidelines of the party.
According to the committee, aspirants generally conducted themselves peacefully during the exercise, except for an incident involving Oko-Jumbo.
It stated that the former factional speaker allegedly attempted to enter the screening venue with security aides, leading to a disagreement with police officers stationed at the venue before calm was restored.
The committee also disclosed that one aspirant, identified as Tonye Garrick Tom-George, was reported to the police for allegedly attempting to bribe members of the panel.
According to the report, the aspirant allegedly handed an envelope containing money and his passport photograph to the committee in a bid to influence the screening process.
The panel further noted that petitions were received against some aspirants, while discrepancies were discovered in several submitted documents.
Among those disqualified alongside Oko-Jumbo were Sokari Goodboy, Timothy Orubitanugha and a known ally of the governor, Chijioke Ihunwo.
The report listed several reasons for the non-clearance of aspirants, including irregular membership records, failure to present voter cards, invalid affidavits, conflicting dates of birth, insufficient nominators and discrepancies in submitted documents.
It also cited alleged inducement of committee members and failure by some nominators to meet the financial requirements stipulated in the APC constitution.
The committee said it was satisfied that the exercise was conducted in substantial compliance with the constitution and democratic principles of the party.
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