Some House of Assembly APC aspirants, Ebonyi chapter have accused the All Progressives Congress leader of fraud, intimidation among others.
The aspirants petitioned Abdullahi Adamu, the national chairman of the party for not being screened.
Chukwuoji Igodo, leader of the group said at a press briefing on Sunday in Abakaliki that no fewer than 25 aspirants were denied screening by the screening committee.
He added that every effort made by the aspirants to draw attention of Ebonyi APC chairman, Stanley Okoro-Emegha to their plights was unsuccessful.
He further alleged that there was a ploy by Ebonyi APC leaders to deny some members opportunity to participate in the 2023 general elections. Mr Igodo explained that their ordeal started when the party announced sales of nomination and expression of interest forms for the House of Assembly.
He alleged that the party denied selling nomination and expression of interest forms to them forcing them to purchase their forms in Abuja.
He said the group denied that it had sold them nomination forms and expressed interest in forcing them to buy their forms in Abuja.
“The problem started when the party announced sales of forms for the House of Assembly and we approached the party to purchase our forms here in the state and they didn’t sell any form to us,” said Mr Igodo. “So, we approached Abuja and bought our forms from there which is allowed by the party rules, we filled our forms there and submitted.”
The politician added, “We presented ourselves for the screening which (was) held on Saturday but nobody from the screening committee attended to us nor addressed us; till now we have not been screened and nobody is telling us anything.”
He maintained that the party was not fair to the affected aspirants.
“We have been told that they will only respond to the 24 aspirants the party sold the forms to which is very unfair to us. We are saying that the chairman is allowing himself to a particular set of people in the party instead of being the chairman for everybody,” claimed Mr Igodo. “We also want the world to know that the party in Ebonyi is sabotaging the efforts of the national leadership and it’s a great betrayal to some of us that have protected and promoted the government.”
