reports that the decision followed the screening of 146 aspirants by the party’s House of Assembly Screening Committee.

Out of those screened, 86 aspirants were cleared to contest in the primaries or emerge through consensus arrangements, while 59 were disqualified.

A copy of the screening report, signed by committee chairman Auwalu Ishiye and secretary Tijjani Abdullahi, stated that the affected aspirants were dropped for “non-compliance with party guidelines and party constitution.”

However, the party clarified that the disqualified aspirants were given the opportunity to appeal the decision.

The State Organising Secretary of the APC, James Ornguga, confirmed that the Screening Appeal Committee had already begun reviewing petitions from aggrieved aspirants, many of whom had formally lodged complaints.

He explained that the party set up two separate committees—one for screening and another for appeals—to ensure fairness in the process. The appeal panel, chaired by Alhaji Lawal Abubakar, had already commenced sitting and receiving petitions from dissatisfied aspirants.

Ornguga noted that most of the disqualifications resulted from discrepancies in submitted documents, adding that the appeal committee would cross-check petitions with original records before reaching a final decision.

He further assured that aspirants wrongly disqualified would be reinstated after proper verification, stressing that the process remained transparent and fair.

According to him, the party has no intention of targeting or sidelining any aspirant, but is simply enforcing its rules to maintain order in the selection process.

He listed common reasons for disqualification to include non-payment of party dues by nominators, insufficient number of supporters, age discrepancies, and inconsistencies in academic qualifications.

Ornguga also explained that each aspirant was required to present at least 120 financial members of the party as nominators, warning that failure to meet this requirement could lead to disqualification.

He maintained that the screening exercise was conducted diligently and without bias, insisting that the party was committed to a transparent and credible primary process.