Bayelsa Guber Primaries: APC Stops Former C-River REC, Clears Lokpobiri, Lyon Aganaba, Others
BY SEGUN ADEBAYO, ABUJA – The All Progressive Congress (APC) Election Screening Committee for Bayelsa State gubernatorial primary elections has disqualified the immediate past Cross River State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Briyai Oyeins Frankland from participating in the August 29th primaries in the state.
Briyai, who recently resigned his appointment as REC citing home pressure, was reportedly disqualified for not being a card-carrying member of APC for up to one calendar year.
However, among those cleared for the primary polls are Preys Aganaba, Prince Ebitimi Amgbare and Ms. Diseye Poweigha.
Others include immediate past Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Mr. Lyon David and Professor Ongoebi Etebu.
According to Election Screening Committee headed by Isa Song, only Briyai failed to cross the hurdle after a thorough exercise.
In its report submitted to the APC National Chairman and signed by all its seven members, the committee said the exercise was conducted in line with guidelines and code of conduct of the APC.
It said the guidelines stipulated that aspirants must have been card-carrying members of the party up to one calendar year; must show their original credentials; and in the case of multiple declarations of age must harmonise same to avoid untoward situation.
The report stated that among the modalities adopted for the screening was the balloting of numbers one to seven, which was picked by each aspirant to determine the order for which they were called to appear before the committee.
“Each aspirant was asked questions relating to qualifications and conduct in line with both party constitution and election guidelines to contest for the Governorship Primary election under the platform of the APC”, the report said.
It added: “We also asked them to produce evidence of membership of the party, voters card and payment of the prescribed fees as well as the original copy of their credentials for sighting.”
Stressing that the screening committee had the mandate to screen all aspirants for the governorship race, the report submitted that: “Dr. Briyai Frankland was not cleared and disqualifies on the ground of Section 3 paragraph ‘L’ of the guidelines for nomination of candidates”