By Ese Awhotu with agency report
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has cleared five more governorship aspirants seeking to fly the party flag in Kogi.
A total of eight candidates have now been cleared to challenge incumbent governor, Yahaya Bello, for the APC ticket.
APC spokesperson, Lanre Issa-Onilu, in a statement yesterday, gave the names of the cleared aspirants as Yahaya Bello, Hadiza Ibrahim, Yahaya Audu, Sani Abdullahi, Abubakar Bashir, Danlami Mohammed, Yakubu Mohammed, Hassan Abdullahi and Ekele Blessing.
He said that, the decision was arrived at by the National Working Committee of the APC.
“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.
“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,” he explained.
He also listed the seven candidates not cleared to include Mohammed Onaili, Usman Jibrin, Mustapha Audu, Rukkaya Ibrahim, Patrick Akpa, Babatunde Kunle Irukera and Muhammed Audu.
With Governor Bello as the leading aspirant, whoever emerges APC candidate is expected to be the candidate to beat at the election. The main challenge to the APC is expected to come from the PDP where a former governor, Idris Wada, and a senator, Dino Melaye, are among the aspirants.
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