The big battle •Nigerians elect new governors in 24 states •Lagos PDP, ACN jittery

Posted by admin Elections 2011, Governors, State News, Top Stories Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

TODAY, 322 gubernatorial candidates will be contesting for governorship seats, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) holds gubernatorial elections in 24 of the nation’s 36 states.
The gubernatorial and state house of assembly elections in Bauchi and Kaduna states had been rescheduled to Thursday, sequel to the violence that engulfed some parts of the North after the presidential election.
However, the courts had restrained the INEC from holding gubernatorial election in Kogi, Cross River, Bayelsa, Adamawa and Sokoto states till 2012, while the same election in Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun states will be held much later.
However, despite the preponderance of candidates in each of the states, the gubernatorial contest is strictly between two or three of them. The contest is expected to be fiercely fought among the leading contenders as the incumbent, many of whom are recontesting, will be unyielding to the opposition bent on taking over from them.
In many states, the contest will not just be along party lines, it will also be along ethnic lines.
In Imo State, where the incumbent, Ikedi Ohakim, will be battling formidable opponents, who are determined to end his reign in the state, the battle will be fought along both party and ethnic lines. It was gathered that the duo of Ifeanyi Araraume of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Rochas Okorocha of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) are in cahoots with a former governor of the state and former minister, Achike Udenwa, all in a bid to stop Ohakim. The group, which was said to be keeping its strategy for dislodging Ohakim from the Government House close to its chest, is expected to direct its supporters to vote for either Araraume or Okorocha. The alliance, if it works, may put the aspiration of Ohakim to retain his seat on the line.
Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State will be fighting hard to completely wrench himself from the apron string of his godfather, George Akume, a former governor of the state, who provided him the platform on which he rode to the Government House in 2007. Now, Akume, who has defected to the ACN, is backing Steve Torkuma Ugbah, the ACN candidate, and is determined to stop the second term ambition of Suswam. The gubernatorial battle will not just be between the PDP and the ACN, it will also be fought along ethnic line.

In Lagos State, the two leading candidates are holding on to different claims to prepare themselves for victory in today’s election. While the incumbent governor, Babatunde Fashola, believes that his performance in the last four years and the routing of other parties by his ACN in the National Assembly election are good enough reasons for him to expect to be returned after today’s election, his main challenger, Ade Dosunmu of the PDP, is hinging his expectation of victory in the gubernatorial election on the overwhelming success his party recorded in the presidential election in the state.
Whether the PDP in Lagos was responsible for the electoral success of the president in the state or not will be determined by the outcome of today’s election.
In Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, the incumbent governor and the standard-bearer of the PDP, will be slugging it out with two major opponents: Senator Rashidi Ladoja of the Accord Party and Senator Abiola Ajimobi of the ACN. Ibadan, which controls 11 local government areas in the state, is determined to end the rule of Alao-Akala in the state. A group, Ibadan Elders Forum, had endorsed the candidacy of Ajimobi, a move condemned as undemocratic by both Ladoja and Alao-Akala. In the National Assembly election, the three parties were in a neck to neck race. However, in the presidential election, the PDP had a landslide victory. The party with the majority of the electorate on its side will be determined at the end of today’s election.
In Delta State, it is a straight fight between Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, the PDP candidate, who is also the incumbent and the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) candidate, Great Ogboru, although Ovie Omo-Agege of the ACN is also expected to put up a good showing. In the rerun held in January, Uduaghan defeated both the DPP and the ACN. He will be expecting a re-enactment of that feat in today’s election. However, Ogboru has insisted that the election was rigged. The outcome of today’s election may put a final stop to all the arguments about who won the rerun.
The election will not just be fought along party lines in Delta State, ethnic consideration will also play a major role, as the Itsekiri and the Urhobos will be engaged in superiority battle over who should rule the state.
The battle for the Kwara State Government House will temporarily divide the foremost family in the state, the Sarakis. Senator Gbemisola Saraki is flying the flag of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) and has the support of her father and the political godfather of the state, Dr Olusola Saraki, while Abdulfatah Ahmed, the PDP candidate is backed by the incumbent governor of the state and the scion of the Saraki dynasty, Dr Bukola Saraki. The two candidates are the leading contenders for the governorship seat in the state. The outcome of tomorrow’s battle will determine whether there will be a new order in the state or the status quo will remain.
In Ogun State, the battle appears to be a straight one between the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). The PPN, a breakaway faction of the PDP, had shown within the short time of its existence, that it is a formidable party. Its activities have greatly affected the fortune of the PDP in the state. Incidentally, though formed less than 12 weeks ago, the party posted an impressive performance in the April 9 National Assembly election, winning one seat while the ACN won three out of the four seats with the PDP candidates winning no seat in either the Senate or the House of Representatives. The remaining seats will be contested in today’s election.
Therefore, today’s election, judging from the performance of the parties ACN, PPN and PDP in the National Assembly election and the fact that the PPN, which has received a strong support from the state governor, Chief Gbenga Daniel, appears to be gaining more foothold on the state political terrain everyday, will be determined by the party that can mobilise the grass roots better. This is apart from the fact that Governor Daniel might be banking on cashing in on his goodwill from some communities in Ogun East senatorial district, while expecting to get considerable support from Ogun West.
But this is not to write off the PDP, as the party, owing to its massive influence, could still spring some surprises to overturn the marginal success recorded by the ACN in the National Assembly election, which was made possible by the dissonance between the PPN and the PDP. Its performance in the last two general elections also attests to its strength.
Meanwhile, there was palpable tension in the PDP and the ACN in Lagos, on Monday, as weeks of intense public campaigns for today’s gubernatorial poll drew to a close officially.
The anxiety triggered a last-minute lobbying of mass-based organisations by key party leaders at different locations within the metropolis for several hours.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that some of the consultations began on Sunday night and dragged on until Monday morning, only for the leaders to regroup later in the day for more closed-door marathon sessions.
The frontline candidates for today’s election are the incumbent, Mr Fashola, the ACN standard-bearer; his PDP counterpart, Dr Dosunmu and Bashorun J.K. Randle of the Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP).
Sources at one of the meetings held on Monday told the Nigerian Tribune that a few of the leaders literally went on their knees, pleading with representatives of the unions of transporters, as well as market women and men associations to prevail on their members to vote for certain candidates in the poll.
At one of the meetings, held at the Women Development Centre in Agege and convened by the female running mate of one of the candidates, representatives from seven chapters of the drivers’ union in Alimosho Local Government Area of the state were present.
According to the sources, she reportedly accused some state top government functionaries of shirking their responsibilities, thereby creating the current situation, in which her party had to embark on aggressive campaign at the threshold of the elections to sway voters.
She begged the union leaders during the one-hour meeting, which began at noon, to prevail on their members to vote for her party, so that she would not be put to shame since she is from Alimosho Local Government Area of the state.
Though the union leaders were not allowed to speak during the session, the convener allegedly urged the union leaders to mobilise at least 100 members from each unit, who possessed voter cards for her party.
It was learnt that the meeting came on the heels of similar consultations inaugurated since Thursday by top government officials to mobilise support for Fashola.
One of the meetings, which was held with okada riders and tricycle operators, was at the instance of the various agencies of government in charge of transport.
According to another source, some PDP leaders held a marathon meeting beginning from Sunday night to the dawn of Monday at the behest of one of the party’s top shots on the Island.
Part of the consultation was still in progress as of on Monday, with many party faithful awaiting further directives at the venue.
Meanwhile, thousands of union commercial vehicle operators might have passed the night within their respective motor parks, in line with the directive of their leaders.
One of the leaders told the Nigerian Tribune that the directive was a follow-up to an order that they should register at centres nearest to their place of work, instead of their residence, owing to some hiccups that characterised the registration exercise.
Similarly, a top leader of ACN, on the Lagos Island on Sunday night, held a marathon meeting with local government chairmen and other party leaders to fine tune strategies for the election.
The leaders retired to their respective constituencies by Monday morning to brief other leaders and asked to be on standby for the resumed meeting at 10.00 a.m under the same leader.
In another development, the PDP has described as a tissue of lies the claim by the ACN that it had voted billions of naira to rig today’s poll in Lagos.
A spokesman for PDP governorship candidate said it was antics of the party to embark on a smear campaign, with the intention of distracting the public from its improper actions.
The PDP said it did not have such a colossal sum, noting that it was ACN that could boast of such funds, given its pre-election marathon campaigns.wp_posts

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Posted by admin on Apr 26 2011. Filed under Elections 2011, Governors, State News, Top Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry