Betta Edu, Cross River commissioner for health, and an aspirant for the All Progressives Congress (APC) national women leader, has reportedly been disqualified from the contest.
Edu, by virtue of the controversial Section 84(2) of the new Electoral Act, will not be participating in the convention.
The section provides that: “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”
An APC source told TheCable that the party’s convention sub-screening committee disqualified Edu on the grounds of the new law.
“She has been disqualified from contesting the national women leader position of the party,” the source said.
New national working committee (NWC) members will be elected during the ruling party’s convention which is scheduled for Saturday.
On Thursday, the ruling party opted to remain on the right side of the electoral act, announcing that political appointees elected as delegates would not be allowed to vote or be voted for at the convention.
Edu who defected to the APC in May alongside Ben Ayade, Cross River governor, was critical of the Muhammadu Buhari administration during the #EndSARS protests.
The commissioner was recently forced to admit that her comments at the time were “indelicate” and had taken to adorning herself in Hijab.
“I do acknowledge that a few of my spur-of-the-moment tweets and impulsive reactions to reports at the climax of the event may have been indelicate and distorted my true position on things. I am human, a mom, and thus given to emotions,” Edu had said.
“However, I want to reassure and appeal to my progressive comrades who are expressing concern not to reduce my intentions and nuanced political views in the past to a couple of badly-worded tweets.”
A group within the party had asked the convention screening sub-committee to disqualify her from contesting the position over her comments.
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