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The Lagos State Governorship Primary Election Committee of the All Progressives Congress, on Thursday, barred one of the aspirants, Abdul-Ahmed Mustapha, from the venue of the primary at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan Stadium, in the Lagos Island area of the state.
Mustapha, a former Permanent Secretary in the state’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, resigned 14 months ago to pursue his governorship ambition.
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, The PUNCH reports.
However, the aspirant told the medium 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.
“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,” Mustapha said.
Mustapha is contesting against the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the anointed aspirant of APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, and Wale Oluwo, a former Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources in the state, who is also an ally of former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode