By CHARLES IWUOHA

•Aspirants from Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu pay N5 million each for exercise

The South-East zone of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has barred journalists from covering the screening of governorship aspirants from Abia Ebonyi and Enugu states.

Journalists who thronged the zonal office of the party at Independence Layout, Enugu, on Thursday were told that the zonal chairman of the party, Alli Odefa, did not want the media to witness the screening.

According to the men at the party’s office, the exercise was an internal party affair.

One of them said that the chairman had directed reporters to vacate the premises of the party until after the first screening session.

News Express learnt that naira rained at the screening exercise.

According to some of the aspirants who spoke to journalists after their screening, each of them was mandated to pay the sum of N5 million as a condition to participate in the screening.

One of the aspirants from Abia disclosed: “My brother, to be a governor is not easy. Imagine that we were asked to pay the sum of N5 million as a precondition for the screening.

“I know this is a way to raise money for the party in the zone considering the fact that we only have two governors now in the region. But, I think the amount is a bit too high considering that all of us are condemning APC for making their forms unreachable for an average Nigerian.”