Three governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were absent on Saturday as the party commenced the screening of incumbent governors ahead of the 2027 general election. The absent governors are Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State, and AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State.
The screening exercise, organized by the ruling party, is being supervised by a committee chaired by Nentawe Yilwatda, with Surajudeen Basiru serving as secretary of the panel. Speaking during the exercise, Yilwatda explained that the three governors were unable to attend due to official engagements in their respective states.
“When you have three governors that have not appeared, all of them have their excuses and their reasons why they’re not appearing,” he said. “And we know that they are chief executives of their states, and they have state issues to attend to.”
He noted that the committee excused the governors because of the responsibilities attached to their offices. “So any governor who has state issues to attend to, the governor of Kwara says he has state issues to attend to, we excused him,” Yilwatda stated. “Governor of Ebonyi state says he has state issues to attend to, we excused him. Governor of Rivers state says he has state issues to attend to, we excused him.”
The APC national chairman added that the affected governors would be screened whenever they become available. “And we said, they are chief executives. They are field soldiers. They are commanders, field commanders,” he said. “Anytime you’re free, call the screening committee. We give you a room. You come at your will and your convenience, and we also screen you.”
Governors who appeared before the screening committee included Abba Kabir Yusuf, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, Nasir Idris, Caleb Mutfwang, and Hyacinth Alia. Others screened were Sheriff Oborevwori, Umar Mohammed Bago, Dauda Lawal, Bassey Otu, and Ahmed Aliyu.
The screening exercise forms part of the APC’s preparations ahead of the 2027 general election, as the party begins internal consultations and assessments involving its serving governors and key stakeholders.
