Party clears Tonye Cole, Sanwo-Olu, Dapo Abiodun, 21 others for 2019 governorship elections

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has cleared 24 candidates to contest in the 2019 state governorship elections across the country.

The committee ratified the reports of the various electoral committees and adopted the candidates at a meeting held on Thursday, October 4, 2018, according to a statement signed by the party's acting National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena.

The candidates include Tonye Cole (Rivers State), Dapo Abiodun(Ogun), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (Kano), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Abubakar Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), and Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina).

Others are Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa), Ahmed Aliyu (Sokoto), Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger), Babagana Umara-Zulum (Borno), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), Abubakar Sule (Nasarawa), Emmanuel Jimme (Benue), Uche Ogah (Abia), Nsima Ekere (Akwa-Ibom).

The rest of the list includes Adebayo Adelabu (Oyo), Great Ogboru (Delta), Owan Enoh (Cross-River), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Sunny Ogboji (Ebonyi) and Sani Abubakar Danladi (Taraba).

With the October 7 deadline to conclude party primaries approaching, the party expects to clear candidates for other states, especially in Imo, Zamfara and Adamawa, as internal division and electoral challenges have delayed the election of candidates.