The Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan, and her Communication Ministry counterpart, Adebayo Shittu, have suffered a setback in their quest to become the governors of their states.

Both ministers had hoped to secure the All Progressives Congress’ governorship tickets for Taraba and Oyo states, respectively.

However, the APC has declined to clear both ministers to participate in the party’s governorship primaries.

This was contained in a statement by the party on Thursday.

In the statement which announced the National Working Committee’s decision on the aspirants for the primaries, the APC stated that Shittu was not cleared because he did not have a National Youth Service Corps certificate.

Mr Shittu had made the news shortly after Mrs Kemi Adeosun resigned as Finance Minister for presenting a fake NYSC certificate.

The Communications Minister, who confirmed the report by online news website Premium Times that he did not participate in the NYSC, insisted that he did no wrong.

No reason was given for the decision to deny Alhassan and others clearance for the governorship primary.

The Women Affairs Minister had, however, generated controversy in 2017 when a video of her visit to a former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who was then in the APC went viral.

She later told the BBC Hausa Services that even if President Muhammadu Buhari seeks a second term, she would still support Abubakar.

•Sourced from a Channels TV report