2023: APC presidential primary: Updates, Results from Eagles Square, Abuja

<p><strong>The <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">ad hoc delegates<&sol;a> for the presidential primary election of the ruling <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">All Progressives Congress<&sol;a>&comma; APC&comma; are all set to elect the party’s flagbearer for the <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">2023 general elections<&sol;a>&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The primary election starts today&comma; Monday&comma; June 6th&comma; 2022&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The ruling party sold 28 forms to 28 different aspirants at the rate of N100 million each and 23 of these contestants were screened last week&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Among the 23&comma; 13 of them were said to have passed the screening exercise&comma; according to John Oyegun&comma; Chairman of the party’s presidential screening committee&comma; while 10 others were &OpenCurlyQuote;disqualified’&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; the National Chairman of the APC&comma; Abdullahi Adamu&comma; countered the Screening Committee’s report&comma; saying that no aspirant was disqualified&period; He said that all the aspirants would battle it out for the party’s sole presidential ticket&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;gunmen-invade-abuja-estate-abduct-residents&sol;">Gunmen Invade Abuja Estate&comma; Kidnap Residents<&sol;a><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p>Three aspirants&comma; namely&colon; the Minister of Labour and Employment&comma; Chris Ngige&comma; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria&comma; CBN&comma; Godwin Emefiele and the Minister of Petroleum for State&comma; Timipreye Sylva&comma; did not submit their forms&comma; while former President&comma; Goodluck Jonathan and Akinwumi Adesina did not show up for screening&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The APC has a total of 2&comma;340 delegates who are set to cast their votes for the aspirants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>And from all indications&comma; Bola Ahmed Tinubu&comma; Chibuike Amaechi&comma; Prof&period; Yemi Osinbajo and Ahmed Lawan are the leading contenders for the party’s ticket&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Among the others ready to fight it out for the party’s flag are&colon; former Minister of Niger Delta&comma; Godswill Akpabio&semi; former Minister of Education for State&comma; Emeka Nwajiuba&semi; former Senate President&comma; Ken Nnamani&comma; Governor of Kogi State&comma; Yahaya Bello&semi; former National Chairman of the APC&comma; Comrade Adams Oshiomhole&comma; former Governor of Imo State&comma; Rochas Okorocha&comma; former Minister of Science&comma; Technology and Innovation&comma; Dr Ogbonnaya Onu&semi; former Ogun State governor&comma; Sen&period; Ibikunle Amosu&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Others are Pastor Tunde Bakare&comma; Cross River State governor&comma; Prof&period; Ben Ayade&comma; Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi&comma; Ekiti State governor&comma; Dr&period; Kayode Fayemi&semi; Jigawa governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar and former Zamfara State governor&comma; Sen&period; Ahmed Yerima&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; the Northern APC Governors had at the weekend asked aspirants from the region to step down and allow their Southern counterparts contest for the primary&period; The Governors agreed that it was the turn of the South to produce the next President&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They called on President Muhammadu Buhari to pick his successor from the Southern part of the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In another development&comma; President Muhammadu Buhari&comma; on his return from the Kingdom of Spain at the weekend&comma; met with all the presidential aspirants of the party&comma; urging them to settle for a consensus candidate&period; However&comma; it seems that the ruling party’s aspirants are finding it difficult to reach a consensus&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the Electoral Act&comma; all the candidates must agree to step down for one of them for a consensus to be reached and if this is not the case&comma; they have to battle it out in the primaries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The ruling All Progressives Congress has today&comma; tomorrow and Wednesday to decide who bears its flag for the 2023 presidential election&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has already emerged the presidential candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party&comma; PDP&comma; and is keenly watching to know his opponent&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Follow this thread for updates and results of the APC presidential primary election&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;