The race for the governors’ seat in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states will climax on Saturday as over 72 million Nigerians are expected to go to the polls to elect state chief executives and members of the Houses of Assembly.
1067 candidates drawn from different political parties are vying for the 29 governors’ seat available in the gubernatorial election that promises to be tense and fiercely contested in most of the states where the two leading political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are running neck to neck.
Though gubernatorial election will not take place in seven states of Anambra, Edo, Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, Kogi and Bayelsa, where the tenures of the incumbent governors have not ended, their electorate will join other voters in the rest of the country to elect members of their respective state house of Assembly.
With pockets of violence in some of the states, the stakes are high and the security agencies would have a herculean task in ensuring that the exercise was peaceful.
And with last minute court rulings clearing some hitherto disqualified candidates to run in the election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) certainly has a lot on its hands to ensure that all eligible candidates are allowed to participate in the election.
Here KAFTANPOST takes a look at the governorship contest in some of the states of the federation.
Fierce contests in Lagos, Ogun guber polls
For Saturday governorship polls in Lagos, there would be 45 candidates trying their luck, according to the list published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
These are the number that will participate in the election out of the 91 registered political parties in the country.
According to the INEC list, among those battling to succeed Governor Akinwunmi Ambode are; Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the APC, Jimi Agbaje of the PDP, Owolabi Salis (AD), Babatunde Gbadamosi (ADP), Olufunsho Awe (NCP), Adetokunbo Pearse (SDP), Olumuyiwa Fafowora (ADC) and Ladipo Johnson (ANP), among others.
The electorate in Lagos is deeply polarised between the APC and the PDP on one hand, and the Igbo-speaking populace against their Yoruba compatriots on the other hand.
But despite the long list of governorship candidates, political analysts believe the governorship poll is a two-horse race between Sanwo-Olu and Agbaje.Without any iota of doubt, the outcome of the gubernatorial poll is crucial to both the ruling and opposition party.
While APC is strategising to maintain its edge in Lagos politics by winning the gubernatorial poll, the opposition parties are not resting on their oars to send the ruling party away from the Government House.
Since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in May 29, 1999, Lagos State had been under the grips of the progressives, which started as Alliance for Democracy (AD) to Action Congress (AC) to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and now All Progressives Congress (APC).
And every four years, the main opposition party, the PDP, aspire to win Lagos but the party had not been able to actualise its dream in the last four elections – 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015 Saturday’s governorship election is going to be another power tussle between APC and PDP, which used the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections to settle political scores in the state.
The outcome of the elections brought about a lot of surprises in the state as some political gladiators and candidates failed to deliver their polling units, wards, local governments and state for their respective parties.
Buhari won the presidential election in Lagos, defeating Atiku Abubakar of the PDP with a margin of 132,798 votes. He polled 580,814 votes to beat Atiku, who got 448,016 votes.
APC won 15 local governments while PDP won in five local governments, heavily populated by non-indigenes.Political analysts believed that a lot of factors would be responsible for saturday’s polls in Lagos State.
The issues are post-primary crises in APC and PDP; imposition of candidates, indigene ship, party’s structures, power of incumbency, personality, state and federal might, among others.
The governorship election is going to pitch political gladiators and candidates from different political parties against one another in the struggle for political relevance in the state.
APC leaders believe that losing the state to the PDP would end the reign of the ruling party in the state and that is why the party leaders are not resting on their oars in ensuring that they do whatever it takes to retain the Centre of Excellence.
Ogun state
In Ogun State, major players that will determine the outcome of the election include former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former governors Olusegun Osoba and Gbenga Daniel, among others.
Apart from these key players, there are also some factors that will shape the outcome of the elections, such as, ethnic affiliations.
While some are rooting for an Ijebu governor, others are of the view that it is the turn of the Yewa extraction to produce the number one citizen in the Gateway state.
To this end, the state had been deeply polarised along the ethnic divide while the incumbent seems to be cashing in on the division.
While Daniel, a PDP stalwart has pitched his tent with Abiodun of the APC, the state governor, Ibikunle Amosun, is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that his anointed candidate, who is running on the platform of the APM, Abiodun Akinlade, wins the election.
Daniel had in a surprise move, abandoned his party’s candidate, Senator Buruji Kashamu of the PDP, while the factional candidate of the PDP, Ladi Adebutu, in another surprise move, threw his weight behind Amosun’s choice of Akinlade.
Abiodun had on Thursday visited Daniel at his Asoludero home in Sagamu to meet with PDP stakeholders.With him on the trip were former Deputy Governor of the state, Alhaja Salmot Badru; PDP Apex Chairman, Chief Mrs Iyabo Apampa; and PDP State Leader, Chief Ogunjobi.
On Thursday, Daniel, who was also Director-General of the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign organisation, directed PDP supporters in Remo, Ogun State, to vote for Abiodun, saying: “You would have noticed my studied silence in our local politics in recent times.
I have busied myself with national politics, having served the state for eight years.“Going forward, I have directed all our structures statewide to cast all their votes on Saturday for Prince Dapo Abiodun, another bona fide Remo son despite current party differences.
“I, therefore, enjoin all, to please go and cast your vote on Saturday for Dapo Abiodun in the overall interest of our people”, Daniel said, while speaking during his endorsement of Abiodun.Daniel’s action has left the contest more ferocious than expected.
It is anybody’s guess who will triumph at the end of the election but analysts are predicting a very tight race between the tree leading contestants.
What could have thrown a spanner in the works for the APC candidate Dapo Abiodun was settled on Thursday when aFederal High Court sitting in Abuja dismissed a suit seeking his disqualification as the governorship candidate of the APC in Ogun State.
