Barely a week to the March 9 Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections, tension has gripped most of the gubernatorial candidates, especially those who would be contesting the election in states that have been described as “battleground states,” Igbere TV reports.
Preliminary findings by Igbere TV put these states to include Abia, Delta, Rivers, Kwara, Imo, Ogun, Kano, Sokoto, Zamfara, Akwa Ibom, Lagos and Oyo.
Though there has been apprehension in these states before now, it has been heightened by the outcome of the February 23 Presidential and National Assembly elections. The results posted by the two leading political parties, All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in both elections seems to have altered earlier political calculations and thereby activated the panic mode among the governorship candidates of the two parties in these states.
This development has also forced governorship candidates and the respective leaders of their parties to seek for last minute alliances to avoid defeat.
In Abia State for instance, the performance of the All Progressives Congress in Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly election has since sent rude shock to the camp of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the state. Specifically in Abia North, the former governor of the state, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu defeated an incumbent PDP Senator, Mao Ohuabunwa to cling on to the Abia North Senatorial seat. Generally, Kalu seems to have changed the narrative in Abia North, having won the zone and delivered his LGA, Bende to the APC. And with the growing popularity of the APC gubernatorial candidate in the state, Sampson Uche Ogah, coupled with the unwavering influence of Dr Kalu, the contest seems to be an all interesting one after all.
In Delta State, the contest is a two-horse race between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC). Unarguably, voters in the state can be grouped into two categories of competence/performance and zoning/ethnic sentiments. While Okowa seems to be unperturbed due to the popular belief that Delta is a PDP state, and with the likes of former governor James Ibori in its camp; the APC’s Ogboru camp seems to be gearing up to take over the state from the PDP. This is evident from the performance of the party in the just concluded Presidential elections where the APC polled 221,292 votes against PDP’s 594,068. And with the likes of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who just won a re-election in its camp, including O’tega and other prominent figures, the APC seems to be coasting to victory.
In Kwara State, the fear that has enveloped the camp of the PDP governorship candidate, Hon. Razak Atunwa, is clear given the way the APC overran the state during the presidential and National Assembly elections. The state, hitherto under the control of the PDP, was surprisingly taken over by the APC. The ruling party at the centre won all the three senatorial seats in the state presently in the hands of the PDP, including that of the Senate president, Bukola Saraki. Against this backdrop, the APC governorship candidate, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who is the leader of the party in the state, have been talking tough ahead of the governorship election. The duo are upbeat that their party will re-enact the feat it achieved in the presidential and National Assembly to completely free the state from the grip of the Saraki political dynasty.
A similar scenario is playing out in Akwa Ibom State, where Governor Udom Emmanuel Udom of the PDP will be confronting the immediate past Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Nsima Ekere, of APC. Many have predicted a tight race for the Akwa Ibom governorship position between the duo, but the outcome of the National Assembly polls in which the APC leader in the state, Senator Godswill Akpabio, lost the Akwa Ibom North West senatorial seat to a former deputy governor of the state, Chris Ekpenyong, has sent jitters to Ekere’s camp.
In Rivers, all eyes seems to be on Gov. Nyesom Wike having delivered the state to the opposition PDP, against the believe that the influence of former Governor of the State and current Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi would give the APC an upper edge. However, the court crisis that greeted the party at the state level recently, seems to have affected the fortune of the APC in the polls. Just yesterday, about 58 governorship candidates of other political parties were said to have stepped down for Wike. Does Wike have the capacity to win a re-election, or the APC will make a come-back like they did in Kwara? Only time will tell.
In Sokoto State, it is a dicey situation as Governor Aminu Tambuwal battles his former deputy, Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu, who is the candidate of the APC. Though the governor’s camp maintains that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives has what it takes to return to power, the outcome of the presidential and National Assembly elections in which the APC cleared the three senatorial seats in the state as well as won in the presidential poll, has boosted the confidence of its candidate.
In Zamfara, the late recognition of the candidates of the APC by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), seems to have altered the initial calculation that PDP will have it easy. This was evident from the way the ruling party swept the polls in the state last weekend.
Reports from Kano also indicate the candidate of the PDP in the state, Engr. Abba Kabir-Yusuf, appears to be panicking given the performance of the APC in the state in last weekend’s election.
The ruling party cleared all National Assembly seats in the state, won the presidency by a margin of over one million votes, winning in all the 44 local government areas of the state.
In Oyo State, the shocking performance of the PDP in the presidential election, has sent jitters to the camp of the ruling APC in the state. Given the way Governor Abiola Ajimobi was defeated by Kola Balogun of the PDP, the chances of the APC governorship, Bayo Adelabu, hangs in the balance. This is as the division in the APC in the state seems to have widened given the declaration by the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, has declared that the party has no governorship candidate in the state, and that he and his supporters would not vote for Adelabu because of his prejudice for Ajimobi. Just yesterday, the ADP guber candidate and former governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, collapsed his campaign team into the APC camp after meeting with a leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Will this save the party from impending defeat, owing to growing popularity of the opposition PDP in the state? Only results from the March 9 polls will tell.
It is a similar situation in Lagos State, where PDP’s performance in the presidential election, particularly the defeat of its governorship candidate, Babajide Sanwa-Olu and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in their respective polling units has boosted the confidence of the PDP candidate, Jimi Agbaje. But, Lagos APC Assistant Publicity Secretary, Hon. Biodun Salami, who dismissed PDP’s hope of unseating the ruling party in the state, said: “It is a figment of their own imagination. Lagosians will determine who they want and we believe that with our structures and relationship with Lagosians over the years; that we never disappointed them; I feel so strongly that they will support us. He added: “Even when their master of yesterday brought in the whole dollars; emptied Nigeria’s treasury into Lagos and virtually relocated to Lagos, the people of Lagos resisted them and said no. By the grace of God, that is what is going to happen again. Lagosians have trust and confidence in our party because we are sincere progressives; genuine progressives. “They will always vote for our party. The trust was displayed in last Saturday’s election, but we are not relaxing. We are aware of their threats and we are also aware of their antics and whatever they are doing. We pray and we hope that Lagosians will not let us down because we have never for once let them down.”
In Imo and Ogun states, the situation seems the same. The APC in both states have been factionalised ahead of the election prompting aggrieved members to seek for alternative platforms. The state of affairs within the party in the two states has been worsened with the way the Governors Rochas Okorocha and Ibikunle Amosun, threw their weights behind candidates of “opposition” parties – Action Alliance (AA) and Allied People’s Movement (APM), respectively. The two governors were yesterday suspended by the APC national leadership over anti-party activities, but the duo appear unperturbed and are determined that their anointed candidates triumph in the governorship elections.
