The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has cleared 837 governorship, and 10,240 House of Assembly candidates for the March 11, 2023 governorship and state assembly polls.
The lists of the candidates will be pasted on notice boards of the INEC in the 36 states of the country. While some states have pasted the names of the cleared candidates, some were yet to do so as of press time.
Chief Ikechi Emenike of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Abia State made the list which puts to rest all the legal efforts by Uche Ogah to wrestle the mandate from him. This further cements the position of chief Emenike as the authentic gubernatorial candidate of the APC in Abia State.
In Enugu, the confusion over who is the authentic governorship candidate of the Labour Party between Capt Evarest Nnaji and Mr. Chijioke Edeoga was also cleared with the listing of Edeoga.
In Rivers State, amid contentions and litigations, two 2023 former aspirants of the APC, Senator Magnus Abe and former Reps member, Dr Dawari George, who quit to secure governorship tickets under alternative platforms were cleared to run.
For the Kano State Governorship race, the name of LP Candidate, Bashir Ishaq Bashir was missing from the list. Bashir’s name was substituted with another name, Abdullahi Mohammed Raji.
The list pasted by Kano INEC also put to an end the controversy surrounding identity of the genuine candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the state with Muhammad Abacha’s name missing while Sadiq Wali made the final list.
Among those cleared for the governorship election in Lagos is Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the APC; Abdulazeez Olajide Adediran of the PDP; and Mr Funso Doherty of the African Democratic Congress, ADC.