Twenty-five presidential aspirants have successfully submitted their All Progressives Congress (APC) expression of interest and nomination forms and are set to face the screening panel of the ruling party.
Naija News reports that the screening which will last for two days will involve 25 of the 29 that purchased the forms.
The APC had fixed Friday May 13th, 2022 as its deadline for the submission of all forms.
It was gathered that as at 9pm on Friday night former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele had not submitted the forms bought for then by “friends and well-wishers”.
A source told The Nation that the legal directorate of the party on Thursday began the vetting of documents submitted by all aspirants with a view to determining the authenticity of the papers.
A source in the department said the party leadership learnt a big lesson from the last minute disqualification of the party’s governorship candidate and his deputy in Bayelsa State due to some lapses in the documentation of the then deputy governor-elect.
“We are going through all the papers filed by all the aspirants in order to avoid any avoidable mistakes. Anyone with past criminal records or convictions will not be allowed to contest. We want to mitigate any post-election litigation that can upturn our victory,” the source said.
Those who beat the deadline include Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; President African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwunmi Adesina; immediate past Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and Senate President Ahmad Lawan.
Other presidential aspirants whose nomination forms were received were former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; former Minister of Niger Delta Development, Sen. Godswill Akpabio; former Imo State governor, Sen. Rochas Okorocha; and former Ogun State governor, Sen. Ibikunle Amosun.
Others were Pastor Tunde Bakare; Cross River State governor, Prof. Ben Ayade; his Ebonyi State counterpart, Gov. Dave Umahi; Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Minister of State, Education, Hon. Emeka Nwajiuba; former Senate President, Sen. Ken Nnamani; Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello; Jigawa State Governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar and former Zamfara State governor, Sen. Ahmed Yerima.
Also on the list of presidential aspirants that submitted were Senator Ajayi Borroffice; the only female aspirant, Mrs Uju Kennedy Ohnenye; Pastor Nicholas Felix Nwagbo; former House of Representative Speaker Dimeji Bankole; former Minister of State, Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva; former Minister of Information, Chief Ikeobasi Mokelu; and Mr Tein Jack Rich.
This article was originally published on Nigeria News