The All Progressives Congress has rescheduled both its screening of its presidential aspirants and the primary election.
Voice Air Media learnt the screening will begin on Monday 30 May and end on Tuesday 31 May.
Out of the 25 aspirants slated to be screened, 11 have been scheduled for the first day.
It is expected that the party will announce its screening committee at the weekend.
Being tipped as chairman is Ondo governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.
Before the shifting of the primary, there was no indication the party was ready to screen its aspirants, 48 hours to the presidential primary.
The party also had not constituted a convention committee and the accreditation committee, leaving the media in a quandary.
In the aftermath of INECâs announcement of extending completion of party primaries till 9 June, the APC also shifted its scheduled primary election by one week.
It will now begin on June 6 and end on June 8.
Mr Felix Morka, the partyâs National Publicity Secretary, announced this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.
âThis follows the Independent National Electoral Commissionâs extension of deadline for the submission of list of candidates by political parties.
âThe APC hereby postpones its Special Convention for Presidential Primary from May 29 to 30 to Monday, June 6 to Wednesday June 8, 2022,â he said.
INEC decided to give the parties more time for the primaries, following pressures by parties, asking for six more days.
Festus Okoye, Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC said the body met with the leadership of political parties on Friday 27th May 2022.
âOnce again, the political parties requested the Commission to review the timelines for political party primaries provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the conduct of the 2023 General Election released on Saturday 26th February 2022.
âEarlier, the political parties had requested for 37 â 60 days extension of the timeline for primaries and the nomination of candidates.
âThe Commission was emphatic that this request could not be granted because it would disrupt other scheduled activities on the Timetable. This position of the Commission has not changed.
âHowever, based on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election, the parties have now pleaded with the Commission to use the 6-day period between 4th and 9th June 2022 to conclude outstanding primaries and prepare to upload the list of candidates and their affidavits on the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal.
âThe Commission did not schedule any specific activity during this period. The idea is to simply give parties time to compile the list and personal particulars of their nominated candidates before uploading same to the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal from 10th â 17th June 2022.
âThe Commission has decided to allow the request of the political parties since the six-day period does not conflict with the next scheduled activity which is the submission of the list of nominated candidates or any of the subsequent timelines which remain sacrosanct.
âHowever, this request is granted in respect of outstanding primaries only without prejudice to those already concluded by political parties.
âThe Commission will not monitor already concluded primaries.
âAfter the conduct of primaries, the next critical activity for political parties is the online submission of the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor which shall be accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by the candidates indicating that they fulfilled all the constitutional requirements for election into the various offices via the INEC Candidates Nomination Portalâ.
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