2023 : Sanwo-Olu Emerge Has APC Governorship Flagbearer

 

Lagos State Governor, Bababjide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday, emerged Lagos All Progressives Congress, APC, flagbearer re-election bid in the 2023 governirship poll. 

Sanwo-Olu, who was a sole contestant, emerged candidate at the APC 2023 Governorship primary, held at Mobolaji Johnson Arena, formerly, Onikan Stadium, Lagos Island.

1,198 out of 1,225 registered State delegates were officially accredited for the Lagos APC Governorship Primary. 

Voting started at about 2.pm and lasted for about 4pm before sorting and counting took place.

Earlier, a heavy rainfall rudely abrupted the process.

The rain which started at about 2. 20 pm, collapsed the roof of large podium, which led to suspension of the exercise temporarily.

Officials and delegates had to take refuge in the hall of the stadium for safety.

Members of the Lagos State Governorship Primary Election Committee of APC had on Thursday, barred one of the aspirants from the venue of the primary.

One of the contenders of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Abdul-Ahmed Mustapha, a former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Minerals Resources was barred from the venue when he showed up for the exercise.

Other contestant is Olawale Oluwo, a former Commissioner for Energy and Minerals Resources under immediate past administration of Governor Akinwumi Ambode.

Mustapha, resigned about 14 months ago and declared to vie against Sanwo-Olu picking up the N50 million governorship form of the party.

Sanwo-Olu during the exercise poolled 1,040 votes to emerge winner.

Announcing the results of the election, Chairman of the APC Electoral Committee, Shettima Yuguda, said that 1,048 delegates were accredited to vote out of 1,086 delegates.

Yuguda said Sanwo-Olu, incumbent Governor, scored 1,040 votes adding that six votes were voided, declared invalid.

In his acceptance speech, Sanwo-Olu thanked all the delegates for finding him worthy to be the party’s flag bearer in the 2023 election.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Lagos State...., and the INEC Administrative Secretary, ..,witnessed the primaries.

Among security agencies at the primary poll were: 

Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC.

Why Mustapha, Oluwo were barred from exercise- Yuguda

Earlier Chairman Electoral Committee of Lagos All Progressives Congress, APC, Governorship Primary, Shettima Yuguda, had explained the reason why two aspirants in the exercise were prevented from participating at exercise.

Reacting to the development, Yuguda, claimed that Mustapha was not cleared by the screening committee of the party because of certain issues concerning certificate.

According to him, "We have three aspirants, one was cleared, two others were not cleared when they showed up in Abuja.

"They were not cleared by the screening committee, and appeal committee. 

"Apparently, only one was cleared, find out from the aspirants why they were not cleared.

"But if you ask me, if you were not cleared for an exercise, so what are you going to do there, what is your business there."

However, the barred aspirant, Mustapha had claimed that he was in Abuja two weeks ago for the screening without the committee members informing him of the outcome.

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, when contacted said, “I just spoke to the Secretary of the committee. He was indirectly telling me that we are not cleared and as such cannot be given accreditation access to the venue

"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.

“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 7am this morning before going to the venue of the primary.”

Sanwo-Olu, the endorsed candidate by the National Leader of APC, Bola Tinubu, is seeking re-election. 

Mustapha, earlier, speaking on why he was challenging his former boss, said, “Because we strongly believe we have a better model that will help further accelerate the development of the state. There is a Master Plan put in place by Asiwaju (Tinubu), built on by BRF (Babatunde Raji Fashola), and built on by (Akinwunmi) Ambode. If other states are going at 3%, Lagos should be going at 9% to account for the mirage challenges in healthcare, education, energy and other sectors.

“We believe passionately that we have a better model and it that belief that is propelling us. 

"I have some experience working for the City of New York, and understanding how the city was put together. Such model is really transmittable and we can accelerate the development of Lagos State.”