Chibuike Ikenga, the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, has rejected claims that aspirants linked to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, received preferential treatment during the party’s screening for House of Assembly candidates.
Ikenga, who spoke in Port Harcourt recently dismissed the allegation that aspirants believed to be loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara were denied clearance.
He described the allegations as false and insisted that Wike had no role in the APC screening process because he is not a member of the party.
According to him, attempts to associate the outcome of the exercise with political camps were unnecessary and misleading.
He acknowledged that the former governor of the state had openly supported President Bola Tinubu.
He stressed that such support had nothing to do with the screening exercise.Ikenga stressed that the process was conducted peacefully and transparently and disclosed that 98 aspirants participated, with 33 cleared and 65 denied clearance.
He further explained that the party constituted an appeal committee to address complaints from dissatisfied aspirants.
He added that the review process had continued smoothly.Also, the Chairman of the Appeal Committee, Abdul Mahmud, confirmed that the panel received the full screening report and was examining petitions submitted by affected aspirants.
He said the committee would conclude its work on May 13, 2026, noting that aspirants who failed to provide some required documents during screening were allowed to submit them before the end of the appeal process.
He added that the committee relied mainly on documentary evidence rather than verbal explanations while reviewing petitions.
One of the aspirants for the Andoni Constituency seat, Gogo Friday, criticised the party for failing to formally explain why he was denied clearance despite completing the screening process and purchasing nomination forms.
He said party officials informed him that some of his nominators were not financially up-to-date members of the APC, while inconsistencies in the spelling of names on some documents also affected his clearance.
Another aspirant, Atuzie Collins, said he was initially disqualified because of a spelling mistake on his voter’s card.
Collins explained that he later obtained an affidavit to correct the error and argued that such a mistake should not have been enough to disqualify him from the contest.
