By Jude Opara
The Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC ) in Rivers State, Chibike Ikenga, has confirmed the authenticity of the party’s screening report which cleared 33 aspirants and disqualified 65 others ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Ikenga made the clarification on Monday during an interview on Channels Television’s programme, The Morning Brief, monitored in Abuja .
The Rivers APC had earlier released a list showing the outcome of the screening exercise conducted for aspirants seeking to participate in the party’s primaries.
According to the report, 33 aspirants were cleared to contest, while 65 failed to scale through the screening process.
The list also indicated that all 32 aspirants reportedly aligned with the camp of Siminalayi Fubara were disqualified.
Reacting to the development, Ikenga said he was fully aware of the screening outcome and had already addressed the matter in a press statement.
“I am fully in the know of this. In fact, I made a press release about this yesterday,” he said.
“The information you are putting across probably was elicited from my press release or from the party yesterday where we informed the public that from the report of the House of Assembly screening committee that some persons were disqualified.”
He stated that he monitored the screening process at the state party secretariat from beginning to end and could speak authoritatively on the exercise.
“I was at the state party secretariat with the screening committee from the very first day they came until they finished. I was there,” he added.
Ikenga, however, distanced himself from reports circulating on social media alleging that Governor Fubara stormed out of the screening venue in Abuja.
“But I was not in Abuja to know all that I have heard from people and social media. I heard stories that the governor actually stormed out of the screening committee.
“I’m not aware of this, and I can’t make news with this because I’m not sure. I’ve not heard directly from those who participated,” he stated.
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