APC clears 5 more aspirants for Kogi guber ticket without Audu

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has cleared five additional aspirants for the Kogi governorship primary election.

But Mohammed Audu, son of the late Abubakar Audu, former governor of the state, was not on the fresh list of eligible contenders.

The APC said he is not eligible to contest for its ticket because he is not a financial member of the party.

The screening committee of the party had announced on Monday that it cleared Yayaya Bello, governor of the state, Abubakar Bashir, Ekele Blessing and Hassan Abdullahi as aspirants for the election.

The disqualification of 12 other aspirants was greeted by a protest following an accusation that the party favoured one aspirant.

In a statement, Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC national publicity secretary, said the decision to clear more aspirants was reached by the national working committee of the party.

The cleared aspirants are Hadiza Ibrahim, Yahaya Audu, Danlami Mohammed, Yakubu Mohammed and Sani Abdullahi.

This brings the total number of aspirants for the election to nine.

“The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has deliberated on the reports of the screening and appeal committees for the party’s Kogi governorship aspirants,” Issa-Onilu said.

“After a comprehensive review of the submissions by the two committees, relying on the party’s guidelines and the provisions of the Electoral Act, nine aspirants were finally cleared to contest the August 29, 2019 Indirect Governorship primary. Seven other aspirants did not meet the requirements for participation in the exercise.”

The other aspirants that were not cleared are Mohammed Onaili, Usman Jibrin, Mustapha Audu, Rukkaya Ibrahim, Patrick Akpa, Babatunde Kunle Irukera.