The upturning of the earlier screening of governorship aspirants in Kogi State in which the screening committee led by Senator Hope Uzodimma, cleared only three aspirants, including the governor, may have created new hurdles for Governor Bello in the race for the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for the November 16 governorship election in the state. The disqualification of 16 other aspirants culminated into petitions and appeals upon which the APC National Working Committee (NWC) reversed the decision and increasing the number of cleared aspirants to nine, and later added one aspirant on Thursday.
The cleared aspirants are to contest the APC indirect primary election on Wednesday.
APC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, had in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, declared that: “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.
“Those cleared by the NWC are Governor Yahaya Bello, Hadiza Ibrahim, Yahaya Audu, Sani Abdullahi, Abubakar Bashir, Danlami Mohammed, Yakubu Mohammed, Hassan and Blessing Ekele.
“The aspirants who are not cleared are Prof. Mohammed Onaili, Usman Jibrin, Mustapha Mona Audu, Rukkaya Ibrahim, Gen. Patrick Akpa, Babatunde Irukera, and Muhammed Audu.
However, the NWC on Thursday cleared Babatunde Ayo Kunle Irukera to contest the APC Kogi governorship primary election which holds this Wednesday.