Wike meets Yilwatda after controversial screening

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, on Tuesday paid a visit to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, at his residence in Abuja amid growing political tension in Rivers State.

The meeting, which was held behind closed doors, comes at a critical time following controversies surrounding the APC screening exercise for aspirants seeking to contest the Rivers State House of Assembly elections.

The party’s screening committee, chaired by former lawmaker Muraina Ajibola, approved 33 aspirants while disqualifying 65 others from the 98 individuals who purchased nomination forms for the 32 assembly seats in the state.

According to the committee’s report, the affected aspirants were disqualified over several infractions, including allegations of inducement and attempted bribery, submission of unsworn affidavits, invalid voter cards, and failure to provide evidence of party membership.

The report further cited discrepancies such as conflicting birth dates, irregular membership numbers belonging to nominators, and inconsistencies in documents submitted by some aspirants.

Among those reportedly affected by the disqualifications were several aspirants believed to be loyal to Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, as well as allies of former APC governorship candidate, Tonye Cole.

As of the time of filing this report, details of the discussions between Wike and Yilwatda had not been made public, fueling speculation over the political implications of the meeting amid the unfolding developments within the APC in Rivers State.