Ahead of the Presidential primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled for next month, the Party on Friday, commenced the screening of 17 presidential aspirants on its platform.

The screening exercise held at Legacy House, Abuja.

Among the aspirants screened were former vice president, Atiku Abubakar; former Senate Presidents, Bukola Saraki and Pius Anyim; former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi; Bauchi and Sokoto State Governors, Bala Mohammed and Aminu Tambuwal.

Others were River State Governor, Nyesom Wike; publisher, Dele Momodu; former banker, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen; pharmacist, Sam Ohabunwa, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom and the only female presidential aspirant, Olivia Tariela.

Also screened were former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose; a lawyer, Charles Okwudili; Chikwendu Kalu and Cosmos Ndukwe.

The screening committee of the party, however, disqualified two of the presidential aspirants.

David Mark, chairman of the Committee, announced the development at the end of the exercise in Abuja.

Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the exercise, Mark declined to reveal the names of the disqualified aspirants, but said the affected persons failed to meet the necessary requirements.

“The exercise, as far as we’re concerned, has gone on very well. We’ve been here since morning, and I’m sure you people have been here since morning also.

“We’ve been very thorough this time around. See how much time we’ve taken to screen each individual who has been here. We screened 17 aspirants, which is quite a number. We cleared 15; two have not been cleared.

“Now, don’t ask me those who have been cleared and those who have not been cleared because I won’t tell you. We haven’t released the result to them. So, if you ask question in that direction, you’re wasting time.

“I think on the whole, that’s what we’ve done. And we’re quite satisfied with the standard of the aspirants by and large. And we think that any one of them who gets the ticket would win the election in 2023″, he said.

Mark, who said the panel did not make recommendations for refund of the nomination form fee to the disqualified aspirants, added that the committee report would be submitted to the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) “this night.”

“We’ll submit and then those who were not cleared have a right to appeal. I’m sure they will go on appeal because there is an appeal panel”, he said.