From Victor Osula, Abuja
The screening of governorship aspirants in the All Progressives Congress (APC) continued to draw national attention on Saturday, with Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, rescheduled to appear before the party’s screening committee at the Plateau State Government Lodge in Abuja.
Also unexplainably absent were Governors AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman of Kwara State and his Ebony counterpart, Francis Nwafiru.
The National Chairman of the APC, Nentawe Yilwatda, confirmed that Fubara’s screening had been shifted to Sunday, while also defending the absence of some governors from earlier sessions of the exercise.
Yilwatda made the clarification at the end of Saturday’s screening, stressing that the party was not targeting any individual governor, and warning against singling out Fubara among others who were yet to appear before the committee.
According to him, several governors had communicated their inability to attend earlier sittings due to official state engagements, adding that the APC had adopted a flexible arrangement to accommodate their schedules.
“Why are you singling one governor out of many? He is not here. But why single him alone? The governor of Kwara has not come also. So, three governors have not come. You don’t single one person who has not come”, Yilwatda told newsmen in Abuja.
He explained that governors, as chief executives of their states, often have pressing administrative responsibilities that may affect their availability for party activities
“That is why I am saying, why Rivers alone when three governors have not appeared? All of them have their excuses and reasons for not appearing. We know they are chief executives of their states and have state issues to attend to”, Yilwatda added.
He further stated that the party remained flexible in its approach to screening.
“Any governor who has issues to attend to, Kwara, Ebonyi and Rivers states, we excuse him. Governors are chief executives; they are commanders. Any time you are free, you call the screening committee, we give you a room, you come at your will and convenience, and we will screen you”, he said.
The rescheduling places Fubara at the centre of the APC’s ongoing screening process ahead of the 2027 General Elections, as the party intensifies preparations for its governorship primaries.
In a related development, the APC also screened other prominent figures at the Plateau State Government Lodge in Abuja, including Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, and Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma.
Eno was screened for a second-term governorship ticket, while Buni and Uzodimma were screened for senatorial ambitions after their gubernatorial tenures.
The APC screening exercise is part of the party’s broader preparations for the 2027 General Elections, following the sale of Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms and ongoing clearance processes for aspirants across the federation.
