A pressure group within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the leader of the party to impress on the party's National Executive Council (NEC) the need to include screening and clearance from anti-graft agencies for would-be leaders of the party.

The group, North-Central Reality Movement (NCRM), through its national chairman, Ibrahim Muhammad Rabiu, said in a press briefing yesterday that this move is imperative to impress on Nigerians that the party has not deviated from its resolve to root out corruption in Nigeria.

He said once the party includes the screening and clearance from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) as part of the criteria for emerging as leaders of the party from the national to the ward executives, it would ensure people of questionable character do not emerge as leaders of the party.

Ibrahim also called on the Chairman of the EFCC not to be deterred from pursuing logical conclusions in all corruption cases involving politically exposed persons, even if such persons belong to the ruling party. He urged him to go a step forward by dusting all the corruption files against its party members and investigating them to a logical conclusion in a bid to sanitise the party, promising the group support for the anti-graft war.

The group also said it joins other pressure groups within the party to demand that the North-Central geopolitical zone be allowed to produce the next national chairman of the party.