{"id":242896,"date":"2026-05-09T19:52:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/apc-aspirant-in-trouble-as-constituents-demand-icpc-clearance-before-primary\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T19:52:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:52:28","slug":"apc-aspirant-in-trouble-as-constituents-demand-icpc-clearance-before-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/apc-aspirant-in-trouble-as-constituents-demand-icpc-clearance-before-primary\/","title":{"rendered":"APC Aspirant in Trouble as Constituents Demand ICPC Clearance Before Primary"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Pressure is mounting within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia <\/a>State as some party members in Ikwuano\/Umuahia Federal Constituency have demanded the disqualification of former Speaker of the Abia <\/a>State House of Assembly, Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji, from the party\u2019s House of Representatives primary over ongoing corruption cases linked to him.<\/p>\n

The aggrieved members asked the APC National Screening Committee to compel Orji to present clearance from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, before he is allowed to participate in the exercise.<\/p>\n

The demand was contained in a petition submitted to the APC National Secretariat in Abuja on May 8 through lawyers representing the concerned party stakeholders.<\/p>\n

In the petition, the members warned the ruling party against fielding a candidate facing serious corruption allegations ahead of the 2027 general elections. They argued that doing so could damage the image of the APC and expose the party to legal complications if the matter eventually results in conviction.<\/p>\n

The petitioners further urged the screening panel to disqualify the former Speaker from the race, citing what they described as \u201cgrave legal and reputational risks\u201d to the party.<\/p>\n

According to the petition, Orji is currently standing trial in a 16-count criminal case filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over alleged diversion and misappropriation of public funds.<\/p>\n

The case, marked FHC\/UM\/2025\/01, reportedly centres on allegations involving security votes and Paris Club refund allocations belonging to Abia <\/a>State.<\/p>\n

The petition also drew attention to another case involving the interim forfeiture of over \u20a6228.4 million allegedly linked to diverted state funds. The suit, identified as FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/03\/V\/2025, was said to have resulted in a Federal High Court order temporarily forfeiting the funds while investigations continue.<\/p>\n

The aggrieved APC members further alleged that affidavits filed by the EFCC identified the former Speaker as a conspirator in the diversion of public funds through a waste management company.<\/p>\n

Lead counsel to the petitioners, Chinemelu Nwaizugbe, said the party must act carefully to avoid a situation where its electoral victory could later be threatened by legal issues surrounding its candidate.<\/p>\n

He stated that presenting a candidate facing corruption prosecution could become a major liability for the APC during or after the election.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur clients believe that fielding a candidate currently under a multi-billion naira indictment for financial crimes poses a future legal disability for the APC,\u201d Nwaizugbe said.<\/p>\n

He added that the screening committee had been urged to request Orji\u2019s bail documents as well as official clearance from the ICPC during the screening process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have urged the Screening Committee to exercise its administrative discretion to protect the party\u2019s integrity,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe further demand that the aspirant be compelled to produce his Bail Order and an ICPC clearance during his mandatory interview to prove he has not misled the party in his nomination forms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The petition also claimed that the ICPC is reviewing separate petitions connected to Orji\u2019s time as Speaker of the Abia <\/a>State House of Assembly.<\/p>\n

The APC is expected to conclude screening for House of Representatives aspirants on May 12, while the final list of cleared candidates is scheduled to be released on May 13.<\/p>\n

The petitioners warned that they may escalate the matter to the party\u2019s Screening Appeal Committee and possibly approach the Federal High Court if their demands are ignored.<\/p>\n

As of the time of filing this report, Orji had yet to publicly react to the allegations and calls for his disqualification.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pressure is mounting within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State as some party members in Ikwuano\/Umuahia Federal Constituency have demanded the disqualification of former Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji, from the party\u2019s House of Representatives primary over ongoing corruption cases linked to him. The aggrieved members asked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":242897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/images-2026-05-09T195439.156.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}