According to reports, the Lagos State Governorship Primary Election Committee of the All Progressives Congress barred one of the aspirants from attending the primary at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in the state’s Surulere area on Thursday.
According to sources, the committee barred one of Governor Babajide Sanwo-rivals, Olu’s Abdul-Ahmed Mustapha, from attending the event.
Mustapha, a former Permanent Secretary in Lagos’ Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, resigned 14 months ago and had picked up the party’s N50 million governorship form.
According to reports, Mustapha was not cleared by the party’s screening committee, which was chaired by a former deputy governor of Borno State, Shettima Yuguda.
However, the aspirant told the media 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.
“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.”
Efforts to reach Yuguda, Mohammed and another member of the committee, Tilewa Sijuade, proved abortive as of press time as calls to their lines rang out.
Also, APC chairman for Lagos, Cornelius Ojelabi, did not take his calls as of press time.
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.