PDP disqualifies 2 presidential aspirants, screens Atiku, Saraki, 15 others

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has disqualified two of the 17 presidential aspirants screened on Friday by the party’s screening committee.

The chairman of the committee, Senator David Mark, made the disqualification known while speaking to newsmen shortly after the conclusion of the exercise at the PDP National Secretariat on Friday evening.

The former Senate President, however, refused to disclose the identities of the disqualified presidential aspirants and the reasons for their disqualification.

He noted that the aspirants did not meet the requirements.

He said those disqualified could petition the party’s Appeals Panel on Saturday if they were not satisfied.

Mark said: “We have been very thorough this time around. We spent so much time to screen each individual who has been here.

“We screened 17 aspirants, which is quite a number. We cleared 15, two have not been cleared.

“We have not released the result to the aspirants.

“We are quite satisfied with the standard of the aspirants by and large. We think that any one of them who gets the ticket would win the election in 2023.”

He added that the committee would submit its recommendations to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party on Friday as the Appeals Committee would be sitting on Saturday.

Mark also told newsmen that those not cleared should not expect a refund of money spent to obtain the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms.

Each of the aspirants paid N40 million to obtain the forms.

The Star