Four thousand five hundred and twenty(4,520) delegates on Friday night affirmed Governor Kashim Shettima as candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC ahead of the 2015 Governorship elections in Borno State after a primary election that held on Friday evening at the Elkanemi Sports Centre in Maiduguri.
The 4,520 delegates who took part on Friday's primaries, represented all the wards across the 27 local government areas of the State at the primaries that was monitored by a team from the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, led Professor Tukur Sa'ad, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Borno State. Four officials from the APC national headquarters, led by one-time National Secretary of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Alhaji Sani Elkatuzu, who chaired the team for Borno State Governorship primaries.
Screened delegates began arriving the sports centre at about 2pm and the elections held for about two hours, from 6pm to 8pm.
Shettima was the sole candidate of the party as other aspirants had stepped down for him days before the primaries after National and State Assembly members purchased re-election forms and presented to the Governor about two weeks ago with party leaders and members endorsing him at a mini ceremony held at the multi-purpose hall of the Government House in Maiduguri.
During the Governorship primaries on Friday, all the delegates accepted Governor Shettima by affirmation with none opposing the Governor's choice after their consent was sorted in line with the APC guidelines. Officials of the INEC and the APC national headquarters commended the conduct of the primaries which held peacefully.
Prior to the Governorship primary, contests were held to elect candidates for the State House of Assembly for Bama, Gwoza, Damboa and Jere State constituencies. Candidates emerged after voting while, for the remaining 24 assembly seats, sole candidates were affirmed by delegates.