The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday cleared five of the seven aspirants for the 2024 Ondo State governorship election to contest the party’s primaries scheduled to take place on April 25. Two aspirants were, however, not cleared on the grounds that they were yet to complete their documentation.
Those screened included Adeolu Akinwumi, Olusola Ebiseni, Bamidele Akingboye, Kolade Akinjo, Bosun Arebuwa, John Mafo and Agboola Ajayi.
Two of the aspirants, Ebiseni and Ajayi, displayed their certificate of clearance after receiving same behind closed doors but declined comments when approached by journalists.
The one-day screening exercise held at the National Executive Committee (NEC) Hall at the PDP National Secretariat started about 11:00 am and ended about 6:15 pm on Wednesday. Former Ebonyi State governor, Senator Sam Egwu, who headed the party’s screening panel, told reporters that the Ondo State Gubernatorial Screening Committee started its work in the morning and completed it by evening.
“We have completed our screening. Only some of them whose documentation is not complete will still come back to complete that aspect of documentation and when that is done, we will continue with our screening and then make our report available. Because we feel like everyone should have level playing ground, a very good opportunity so they won’t say they were screened out deliberately,” he said.
He stated that the aspirants had had till 5:00 pm Wednesday to state their case.
“You can see the PDP is the party that wants to give the people the opportunity, provided you play by the rules of the game.
“If a candidate tells us he forgot and he’s going to bring his documents before 5:00 pm, why not? We don’t want to give them the impression that the party has a candidate they support. Only few persons are involved in this case,” he stated.
Recall that the National Working Committee of the PDP had earlier scheduled March 27 for the screening of its Ondo State governorship aspirants, in line with the party’s preparation for the upcoming election.
The election, set by the Independent National Electoral Commission for November 16, 2024, prompted the party to establish a timetable, with the congress to select the governorship candidate planned for April 25, 2024. The sale of expression of interest, nomination forms, and ad-hoc forms began on March 7 and ended on March 21, with a deadline for submission by March 25.
