Post by Henry Emeka (@Emekus)

They were disqualified because they failed APC’s internal screening requirements, not because of a specific Nigerian national law. The disqualifications were based on APC party rules, especially Article 9.3 of the APC Constitution, which requires members and nominators to be financially up‑to‑date and properly documented.

Why the 65 aspirants were disqualified
Across multiple reports, the APC screening committee listed specific reasons for disqualification. These include:

Inducement or attempted bribery of committee members

Submission of unsworn or invalid affidavits

Failure to present voter cards

Failure to present APC membership slips/cards

Conflicting dates of birth in documents

Nominators not financially up to date, violating APC Constitution Article 9.3

Irregular or inconsistent membership numbers of nominators

Insufficient nominators (less than 3 per ward)

Inconsistencies in names across submitted documents

Invalid affidavits relating to NECO certificates

Security protocol violations (e.g., entering with unauthorized security aides)

These are party‑level compliance issues, not violations of Nigerian national law.

Is this required by Nigerian law?
No.
Nigerian law (the Electoral Act) does not mandate these specific disqualification criteria. Instead:

Political parties are allowed to set their own internal rules for screening aspirants.

As long as those rules do not violate the Electoral Act or the Constitution, the party has full discretion.

Therefore, these disqualifications were based on APC’s internal constitution and screening guidelines, not federal law.

So the APC was acting within its rights as a political party, but the reasons for disqualification were party‑specific, not legal requirements imposed by Nigeria.

Political context
Reports also note that most disqualified aspirants were loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara, while Wike‑aligned aspirants were cleared, which has intensified political tension in Rivers State.

https://newsweekng.com/just-in-apc-screening-committee-disqualifies-all-rivers-assembly-aspirants-loyal-to-fubara-clears-wike-loyalists/?utm_source=copilot.com

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