APC Clears Wike Loyalists and Disqualifies Fubara Candidates for Rivers Assembly

The internal crisis rocking the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, deepened on Monday after the party cleared loyalists of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, while disqualifying aspirants believed to be loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara ahead of the 2027 State House of Assembly primaries.

The party released the names of aspirants cleared and disqualified for the exercise, with 33 persons approved to contest and 65 others screened out.

A breakdown of the list showed that all 32 aspirants linked to Fubara’s political camp were disqualified from participating in the primaries.

On the other hand, serving lawmakers in the Rivers State House of Assembly aligned with Wike were cleared by the screening committee.

The development is expected to worsen the political tension already brewing between supporters of the governor and loyalists of the former Rivers governor.

In a statement issued by the Rivers APC Publicity Secretary, Chibike Ikenga, aspirants who purchased nomination and expression of interest forms for the House of Assembly election were directed to check their screening status at the party secretariat along Aba Road in Port Harcourt.

Ikenga said aspirants dissatisfied with the outcome of the screening exercise could file appeals through the party secretariat.

According to him, the appeal hearing has been fixed for Tuesday, May 12, at 10 a.m.

The screening committee, in its report, listed several reasons for the disqualification of affected aspirants.

The committee accused some aspirants of presenting incomplete or inconsistent documents during the screening process.

Among the reasons cited were “Nominations by persons who are not financially up to date members of the Party, contrary to Article 9.3 of the Party Constitution, inducement and attempted bribery of Committee members, submission of unsworn affidavits, failure to present voters cards, failure to present Party membership slips or cards, conflicting dates of birth, failure to confirm payment of membership dues by nominators, irregular party membership numbers of nominators, inconsistencies in names appearing in submitted documents, insufficient nominators with required numbers which fall short of three nominations per ward, invalid affidavits that failed to disclose material particulars relating to NECO certificates.”