6th July, 2020
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Screening Appeal Panel (SAP) for Ondo State governorship primary election on Monday cleared Godday Erewa, one of the aspirants earlier disqualified by the party screening committee on Friday.
Erewa made his clearance known as he addressed newsmen at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja after appearing before the appeal panel chaired by Sen. Gyang Dung.
The aspirant, who displayed the certificate of clearance issued to him said the screening committee earlier disqualified him citing error in the spelling of his name, which was not in the documents he presented.
“The reason they gave was that there was an error in the spelling of my name but there was no error.
“Maybe the way they were pronouncing the name in their own dialect is different from the way it was spelt.
“The name in the certificate that was not cleared is different from the name in my school certificate.
“So when they looked at it from my appeal, they had to clear me. The name is Oritsewino which the party spelled as Oritsewiwo in error,” he said.
He appreciated the screening appeal panel for a fair hearing and for correcting the mistake.
Erewa, who expressed optimism of winning the party’s ticket and the Oct. 10 election if given the opportunity, ruled out the possibility of a consensus candidate.
“There won’t be consensus. At the stage we are now, there is no consensus. Consensus could have come before buying the form, not after buying the form. Sixteen days from today is the primary,” he added.
Dung, chairman of the appeal panel, refused to grant audience to journalists after the exercise.
Yakubu Dogara, former Speaker, House of Representatives, who was Chairman of the PDP Screening Committee for Ondo State Governorship Election had disclosed that two unnamed aspirants failed the exercise on Friday.