By The governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, on Thursday, commenced at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in the Onikan area of the state.
The three aspirants participating in the exercise are incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; a former Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Wale Oluwo; a former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Minerals Resources, Abdul-Ahmed Olorunfemi Mustapha.
A total of 1,225 state delegates are expected to vote during the governorship primary. The breakdown shows that 5 delegates were elected from each of the 245 wards in the state.
However, BlackBox Nigeria gathered that 1,198 state delegates have been officially accredited to partake in the exercise, as voting is said to be ongoing.
Though the governorship primary remains underway, there are strong feelers that Sanwo-Olu will clinch the APC ticket to seek a second term in office.
Sources in the party predict that election will be walk in the park for the governor who had been endorsed by the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) – the highest decision-making organ of the Lagos APC — as well as the ‘Oracle of Lagos’, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor and APC presidential hopeful.
Sanwo-Olu’s closest challenger, Oluwo is a known associate of his predecessor, Akinwunmi Ambode, who equally boasts of an interesting portfolio as the chairman of the Akinwunmi Ambode Campaign Organisation, a political group floated by the embattled ex-governor who was denied re-election by the party stakeholders.
Mustapha, on the other hand, is relatively unknown in the political space, leaving many wonder why he joined the governorship race in the first place. He had, however, expressed optimism that he would defeat Sanwo-Olu, insisting that delegates would not be swayed by pecuniary gains.
Meanwhile, the trio will go head-to-head in the battle for the APC ticket to emerge as its flagbearer in the governorship elections in 2023.
