Tinubu, Osinbajo, Lawan make list of 13 cleared APC presidential aspirants

Bola Tinubu, former Lagos State governor, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan; Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi state; Kayode Fayemi Ekiti, state governor and Rotimi Amaechi, former minister of transportation have made list of the cleared All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirants.

Others are Godswill Akpabio, former minister of Niger Delta Affairs; Emeka Nwajiuba, former minister of state for education; Ogbonnaya Onu, former minister of science techology and innovation; Ibikunle Amosun; former
governor of Ogun state; David Umahi, governor of Ebonyi state and his Jigawa counterpart, Mohammed Abubakar-Badaru as well as Tein Jack-Rich, President/ Founder of Belemaoil and Belema Aid Foundation.

Impeccable sources in the presidential villa privy to the John Odigie-Oyegun-led screening committee report told BusinessDay on the condition of anonimity.

Accordingly, the aspirants not cleared to contest the party’s presidential ticket include, Rochas Okorocha, former Imo state governor; Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River state; Tunde Bakare, general overseer of Latter Rain Assembly and Sani Yerima, former Zamfara state governor.

Read also: APC presidential primaries: Tinubu’s call for fair play misinterpreted
Also not cleared are Ken Nnamani, former president of the Senate; Ikeobasi Mokelu, former minister of information;
Demeji Bankole, former speaker of the House of Representatives; Ajayi
Borroffice, deputy Senate leader; Felix Nicholas, US-basd pastor and Uju Ken-Ohanenye, the only female aspirant.

John Odigie-Oyegun, chairman of the All APC presidential screening committee said his panel cleared 13 presidential aspirants and did not cleared 10.

Oyegun disclosed this when he submitted the report of his committee to Abdullahi Adamu, APC national chairman in Abuja on Friday.

He said all the 23 aspirants met
the basic constitutional qualifications to contest presidential election but those cleared were taken based on their ability to lead, background, experience and understanding of the Nigerian situation.

The former Edo state governor also said the other criteria for clearance of the 13 aspirants include their ideas as to how issues, difficulties and the rest can be addressed and how the country can move forward to begin a critical consideration.

“It is on that basis we made our final shortlist. I don’t want to read the names which I think would leave that to you (chairman) but we have a shortlist which brought the number down to 13.

“We could have cut it a little shorter but we wanted deliberately, the younger elements to surface for them to be seen, for them to be noticed. We would hand them over to the party and it is for the party to decide whom their candidate will be.

Just as Oyegun, Adamu too did not mention the names of those cleared and not cleared as he said the report will be considered at the highest level of the party for appropriate decision.

He said: “We received the report now on each of them, we will consider it on a very highest level of the party and see how we would approach it before the forthcoming convention which has ultimate authority on the choice of who takes the flag of our party.

Shortly after Adamu received the report, he zoomed off to the villa to meet President Muhamadu Buhari who returned from Spain on Friday afternoon.

A senior staff at the APC National Secretariat told BusinessDay on the condition of anonimity.

“Don’t you see how the chairman left the secretariat immediately after Oyegun and his team submitted their report? He just read through it, then have to go to the villa to see Buhari so that they will know what next to do,” the source said.

Buhari had before departing to Spain on Tuesday had a meeting with APC governors and told them that he would want to pick his successor and he needed the governors to support him to do so.

“In keeping with the established internal policies of the Party and as we approach the Convention in a few days, therefore, I wish to solicit the reciprocity and support of the Governors and other stakeholders in picking my successor, who would fly the flag of our party for election into the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023,” he said.

According to a villa source, Buhari who departed Ghana Saturday morning to
attend an Extraordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government will take a second look at the screening report later today or tomorrow.

The source who does not want to be mentioned, said the president will meet with all the presidential aspirants; those cleared and not cleared, APC governors and the party national leadership as well as critical stakeholders to arrive at a decision, possibly to unvail his choiced presidential candidate.

According to the source, the party does not want to officially announce those cleared and not cleared but to get a consenus candidate and present to the public.

“When the president returns from Ghana this evening, he will look at the report again and meet with our presidential aspirants, governors and the national chairman and other national leaders to take the final decision.

“The plan is not to disclose the names of those cleared and not cleared until a consensus is reached and then the chosen candidate is presented without necessarily bringing to public who was successfully screened or screened out,” the source said.