FACT CHECK: Viral List of Disqualified APC Presidential Aspirants Not Authentic

A list of purportedly disqualified presidential aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is trending across social media.

The 23-man list shows that 10 aspirants including Robert A. Boroffice, Uju Ken-Ohanenye, Tunde Bakare, Bola Tinubu, Ahmed Rufai Sani, Rotimi Amaechi, Godswill Akpabio, Rochas Okorocha, Tein Jack-Rich and Ikeobasi Mokelu have been disqualified by the Chief John Odigie Oyegun-led Presidential Screening panel ahead of the Party’s presidential convention slated for June 6 – 8, 2022.

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Verification

Investigations on the claim by Daily Trust Fact Check revealed that 10 aspirants were actually not cleared by the APC screening panel. However, their names were not disclosed by the Chairman of the Committee, Chief Odigie Oyegun, when he presented the report to the party’s National Working Committee led by the National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, on Friday.

During the presentation of the report, Oyegun had noted that only 13 out of the 23 aspirants screened were cleared by the committee.

He said, “We had 23-member aspirants that we interacted with. We had a lot of others, prominent Nigerians both within and outside the country that had applied, but for whatever reason, could not proceed with their applications.

“….And on that basis, every single aspirant that presented himself qualified, because it was basic and simple. But we are a governing party. And we are keen on continuing the process and replacing at the proper time, our president, with yet another member of the party.

“So, the ability to lead, background, experience and your understanding of the Nigerian situation, your ideas as to how issues, difficulties and problems can be addressed and how the country can be moved forward became a critical consideration. It is on that basis that we asked who are you, what have you achieved, your understanding of the nation and things you can contribute to move the nation forward. It was on the basis of that we made our final shortlist.

“I don’t list the names; I think I will leave that to you. We have a shortlist, which brought the number down to 13. We could have cut it a little shorter, but we wanted a pedigree with a longer element to surface. For them to be seen whether to be noticed, who knows? We hand them over to the party. And it is for the party to decide who their preferred candidate will be. ”

Conclusion

While it is true that 10 aspirants vying for the presidential ticket of the APC were not cleared for the contest, the names and identities of those affected have not been disclosed. Therefore, the list making the rounds is fake, unofficial and should be disregarded.

This fact check was done in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).