Five frontrunners have been identified among the list of 13 aspirants cleared by the seven-man All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Screening Committee headed by a former National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. The panel while submitting its report on Friday announced that it had cleared 13 of the 23 aspirants screened, while recommending10 for disqualification ahead of the party’s Presidential primary election scheduled for next week.

A report in THISDAY newspaper of today, Saturday, June 4, 2022, said that “of the 13 aspirants cleared, five of them are regarded as the frontrunners."

The paper identified Vice President Yemi Osibanjo as leading, adding: “The next four in order of their strengths are Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu and the former Minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio.”

Odigie-Oyegun had refrained from naming the cleared and disqualified aspirants when he led other members of the committee to submit their screening report to the Abdulahi Adamu-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

Those screened by the panel include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu, Senate President Ahmad Lawan and former ministers Rotimi Amaechi, Ogbonnaya Onu, Godswill Akpabio, and Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba.

Serving governors in the race are Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Ben Ayade (Cross River) and Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa).

Other aspirants are former Senate President Ken Nnamani, former House of Representatives Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, and serving senators Ibikunle Amosun, Ajayi Boroffice, and Rochas Okorocha.

The rest are Pastor Tunde Bakare, Uju Ken-Ohanenye, Nicholas Felix, Ahmad Rufai Sani, Tein Jack-Rich, and Ikeobasi Mokelu.

•PHOTO: All Progressives Congress (APC) National Women Leader, Dr. Betta Edu (left); National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore; National Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu and Chairman, Presidential Screening Committee, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun during the presentation of the committee’s report to the APC National Chairman, in Abuja…yesterday. PHOTO: PHILIP OJISUA

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