Abdul-Ahmed Mustapha, an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in the May 26 governorship primary election in Lagos State, has appealed to the National Working Committee(NWC) of the party to nullify the election.

“I strongly request that the exercise be nullified and a new primary conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner in the state,” Mr Mustapha said.

He alleged that he and Wale Oluwo, the other aspirant, were “deliberately shut out” to allow Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to win the primary election.

“Lagos residents should not perceive such a high level of impunity as a modus operandi in the party’s operations. All Progressives Congress (APC) must take the proper steps to protect the party’s image,” he said.

Mr Mustapha, who said that he did not doubt that he met all the screening criteria, maintained that the screening report should have been published not later than May 15 and that he protested via a letter dated May 24 on the non-publication of the screening report.

“The information should have been before the gubernatorial congress on May 26. I had the impression that all was well and continued with my consultations from ward to ward basis in the state.”

Mr Mustapha said he also submitted a letter to the APC state chairman’s office and also the national chairman’s office on May 25 requesting the gubernatorial aspirant’s tag, list of delegates, list of Lagos State gubernatorial aspirants cleared to contest, guidelines for election and agent tags for all wards.

“None of the details requested nor the materials listed were made available to me.

“I now believed the silence and exclusion were deliberate and calculated to technically shut me out of the race and trample upon my rights with gross impunity.

“On getting to the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, through speculation on May 26, I was turned back at Onikan Stadium’s gate despite introducing myself as a gubernatorial aspirant to the security men on duty.

“Efforts to get the state and national officials were unsuccessful until I finally reached Mohammed Bashir (Lagos Committee Secretary).

“He (Bashir) claimed that I was not cleared to participate in the election. This information was news to me as I heard it for the first time,” Mr Mustapha said.

He said that the impression given before the primaries was that three gubernatorial aspirants were contesting the party’s governorship ticket in the state.

“The process and actions taken by the national and the state officers violated all relevant laws of the land.

“They amounted to gross abuse of power and breach of the trust of members of our great party, which had been vested in the Party Officials at the State and National levels,” he added.

Adamu Yuguda, chairman of the five-man electoral committee that conducted Lagos governorship primary election on Thursday, told journalists that only Mr Sanwo-Olu was cleared for the primaries.

(NAN)