JUST IN: APC bars Sanwo-Olu’s challenger from primary venue
The Lagos State Governorship Primary Election Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Thursday, barred one of the aspirants from the venue of the primary at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in the Surulere area of the state.
NEWSFLASH NIGERIA learnt that the committee prevented one of the contenders for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Abdul-Ahmed Mustapha, from the venue.
Mustapha, a former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Minerals Resources in Lagos, resigned 14 months ago and had picked up the N50m governorship form of the party.
It was gathered that the committee chaired by a former deputy governor of Borno State, Shettima Yuguda, claimed that Mustapha was not cleared by the screening committee of the party.
However, the aspirant said that he was in Abuja two weeks ago for the screening though the result was not announced.
He said the Secretary of the primary election committee, Bashir Mohammed, turned him back on Thursday, saying that he was not cleared and as such cannot be given accreditation access to the venue.
Mustapha said, “We were told that we were not cleared by the leadership of the party and as such, they only gave accreditation tags to those that were cleared.
“We went to Abuja for clearance two weeks ago. The results of the clearance were not communicated to us.
- Presidential Primary: Full list of APC delegates for 36 states, FCT; Lagos only had 60
- APC members protest in Lagos over ‘imposition’ of lawmaker contesting the fifth term
“We went to the APC state secretariat at Acme Road yesterday (Wednesday), we tried to get our accreditation tags but we were not given. We were there till 7 am this morning before going to the venue of the primary.”
Sanwo-Olu, the anointed aspirant of APC leader, Bola Tinubu, is seeking re-election. He is in the race with Mustapha; and Wale Oluwo, a former Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources in Lagos who is also an ally of ex-governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
‘Nobody should be compelled into a consensus arrangement’.