APC: 87 aspirants for 26 legislative seats screened in Osun

The Chairman of the Osun State Legislative Screening Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has said 87 aspirants will be screened for 26 legislative seats in the state.   Ize-Iyamu, addressing reporters yesterday at the APC secretariat, said 81 of the aspirants obtained their forms in Osun State, while six others bought theirs from the national secretariat in Abuja.   He said the committee would be fair to all the aspirants.   “Eighty-seven aspirants sought to contest for 26 seats of the House of Assembly. That is to tell you how popular the APC is. Eighty-one bought their forms in Osun here and six bought their forms in Abuja.   “There are constitutional requirements and there are party requirements, but basically, we want to be sure they are Nigerian citizens.   "We want to see local government certificates, they must be party members, they must be voters, and we also want to know their age, we want to see their educational qualifications, if you claim to be a doctor, you must provide a certificate to prove it.”   Recall that sometime in April, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) published the personal particulars and list of candidates (Form EC9) for the Osun State governorship election.   The commission in a statement by Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, in Abuja, said the list was published at INEC state and local government offices in Osun State as required by law.   Mr Okoye said that the list was published in compliance with the Electoral Act 2022, following the close of nominations by political parties.   It was gathered that according to the published particular of the 15 candidates, while none of the governorship candidates was female, six of the deputy governorship candidates were female.   The published candidates include Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress, Adeleke Nurudeen of the Peoples Democratic Party, and Omigbodun Akinrinola of Social Democratic Party.   He remind political parties that under Section 32(2) of the Electoral Act 2022, any party that observes that the name of its candidate is missing from the list “shall notify the Commission in writing.”   He said that such letter must be signed by such party national chairman and secretary, supported with an affidavit not later than 90 days to the election.   “Furthermore, the attention of parties is drawn to Section 32(3) of the Electoral Act 2022, which provides that failure to notify the Commission “shall not be ground to invalidate the election”.   “The final list is published in our State and Local Government offices in Osun State as well as our website and social media platforms for public information as required by law.   “Political parties are enjoined to note the provision of the law for compliance,” he said.