APC releases more names of aspirants to participate in gov primary election

The All Progressives Congress (APC), Governorship Aspirants Screening Committee, has cleared more aspirants to participate in its governorship primary election slated for Saturday.

Mr Yekini Nabena, the APC National Publicity Secretary in a statement on Friday in Abuja, said Kaduna, Kano and Jigawa states aspirants were erroneously omitted from the previous list released.

The aspirants cleared according to the statement include: Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai for Kaduna, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje
for Kano state, Alhaji Abubakar Badaru and Alhaji Hashim Ubale for Jigawa state.

Also cleared for Katsina state were Aminu Masari, Abubakar Ismaila Isa and Garba Sani Dankani as well as Alhaji Atiku Bagudu and Ibrahim Mera for Kebbi state.

The statement added that Abubakar Gumbi, Farouk Yabo, Ahmed Aliyu and Sen. Abubakar Gada were also cleared for Sokoto state while Dauda Lawal, Mukhtar Shehu and Brig.-Gen. Mansur Ali were cleared for Zamfara State.

The statement added that Ibrahim Wakala, Sen. Kabiru Marafa, Mahmuda Aliyu Shinkafi, Aminu Jaji, Abubakar Magaji and Mohammed Hamidu were also cleared to contest the party’s governorship primary election in Zamfara.

All the aspirants are expected to contest for the party’s ticket to be its candidates for the 2019 governorship election.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that an earlier list of aspirants from states across the federal released by the NWC, revealed that Mr Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communication, had been disqualified from participating in the party’s rescheduled governorship primary election.

The Minister was disqualified from the race by the party’s Governorship Aspirants Screening Committee.

The committee revealed that the minster, who was in the race to contest the Oyo State governorship election, was disqualified from contesting the primary, because he did not participate in the compulsory one year National Youth Services Corps (NYSC) scheme.

Also disqualified from the contest, was Hajiya Aisha, Alhasan, Minister of Women Affairs, popularly known as mama Taraba, who was in the race to contest the party’s ticket for Taraba governorship election.

The committee did not, however, give any reason why the minister was disqualified from the race.

The committee also disqualified Mr Osiobe Okotie from Delta, Alhaji Ibrahim Halilu (Nasarawa) and Alhaji Abubakar Magaji (Niger) from contesting for the party’s ticket at its governorship primary election