The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has on Wednesday finally disqualified two presidential aspirants, namely Cosmas Ndukwe, a former lawmaker and Nwachukwu Anakwenze, a United States-based medical doctor.
Driving the news
The party’s appeal committee, led by the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, upheld that the duo failed to meet the requirements set by the party, hence their disqualification.
Brief background to the story
Customarily, candidates contesting for electable positions under the party undergo a screening exercise to determine their fitness for the position they are declaring interest in.
- Cosmas Ndukwe and Nwachukwu Anakwenze fell short of the set parameters as determined by the party’s presidential screening committee led by the former President of the Nigerian Senate, David Mark.
- Failing to accept the verdict by the presidential committee, the duo appealed the decision to the appeal committee.
What they are saying
The presidential committee says there is no refund of the N40 million the two aspirants paid for the presidential nomination and expression of interest forms.
State of play
With the disqualification of two candidates, PDP still has more than a dozen aspirants vying to be the party’s presidential flag bearer for the 2023 election.