10th April, 2015
All is set for the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections in 29 of the 36 states of the federation. And as was the case in the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections, it will be a straight fight between the candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and those of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Out of the 368 candidates vying for the governorship seats in 29 states, 58 of them are APC and PDP candidates, going by the data released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Governorship election will not hold in seven states. The states are: Kogi, Anambra, Bayelsa, Osun, Ondo, Edo and Ekiti.
Considering the pattern of voting in the 28 March Presidential and National Assembly elections in which APC trounced PDP, there are indications that APC may win in 20 states in the governorship election on Saturday.
Although PDP currently controls 21 of the 36 states, the gale of defections from PDP to APC in the wake of the presidential election may also count against PDP in the governorship election. And rather than add to the 21 states the party now controls, it may lose some of the states to the APC, despite the optimism of PDP’s National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, that it would win the governorship election in 24 states. Mu’azu’s optimism may be misplaced because he could not even deliver his state, Bauchi, during the presidential election.
Currently, PDP controls Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Ebonyi, Adamawa, Enugu, Bauchi, Taraba, Gombe, Benue, Plateau, Niger and Kogi.
The party also controls Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa, Kaduna, Ekiti and Ondo states.
PDP, which has been in power for sixteen years, will fight the battle of its life to retain all these states which it currently controls owing to the growing influence of the APC after the presidential election.
Where the battle will be very fierce during the governorship election will be Lagos, Rivers, Kaduna, Nassarawa, Plateau, Taraba and Akwa Ibom states.
In Lagos, it is a straight governorship battle between APC’s Akinwunmi Ambode and PDP’s Jimi Agbaje, while in Rivers, the contest for the governorship seat is between APC’s Dakuku Peterside and PDP’s Nyesome Wike.
If the pattern of voting in the Presidential election is re-enacted on Saturday, there are indications that APC will spring more surprises in the states currently controlled by the PDP, especially in the north.
Meanwhile, INEC data also revealed that 5,218 candidates are contesting in the House of Assembly election in the 36 states.
Details of the statistics showed that 22 candidates out of the governorship candidates are females.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Cross River, Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun, Rivers, Sokoto and Taraba have one female governorship candidate each. Two female candidates each are in the race in Delta, Ebonyi, Kano, Kwara and Lagos States, while three female candidates are contesting in Enugu State.
The data indicated that no female candidate is in the race in Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Oyo, Plateau, Yobe and Zamfara states.
A further breakdown of the data revealed that in Abia State, 13 candidates are in the contest for the Government House, 14 in Akwa Ibom State, while Benue and Nasarawa States have eight candidates each. In Enugu State, 19 candidates are in the race; Borno, 13 candidates; nine in Ebonyi; and four in Jigawa. It also showed that 12 candidates each are contesting in Gombe, Adamawa and Oyo States, 10 each in Bauchi and Niger States, five each in Cross River and Yobe, while Imo and Kano States have 22 candidates each in the race.
Kaduna State, according to the records, has 14 candidates in the governorship contest, seven in Katsina, and 17 each in Kebbi, Lagos, Kwara, and Ogun States. Sixteen candidates are vying for the position in Plateau State, six in Delta State and 18 in Rivers State, while Sokoto State has 21 candidates and 20 in Zamfara State.
The INEC statistics also revealed that out of the 5,218 candidates in Houses of Assembly seats across the country, 743 are females while 4,475 are males.
It showed that one female candidate each is contesting for a legislative seat in Katsina and Yobe States, 27 candidates in Abia, 10 each in Adamawa and Cross River and nine each in Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa. It also revealed that 65 female candidates each are contesting in Anambra and Enugu states; Delta, 36 candidates; Ebonyi, 14; Edo, 12; Ekiti, 35; Gombe and Bauchi, seven each; and Benue,11. Borno and Nasarawa States have two candidates each in the contest; Imo, 30; Jigawa and Sokoto, three each; and Kaduna, eight candidates.
In Kebbi , Kano and Kogi States, 18 female candidates each are in the race; Lagos, 43 candidates; Niger, 13; Ogun, 41; Ondo, 26; Osun, 71; Oyo, 31; Plateau, 28; Rivers, 17; Taraba,15, and five in Zamfara. In Abia, the data showed 140 candidates are in the race; Adamawa,149; Akwa Ibom, 121; Anambra, 243; Benue, 119; Balyelsa, 145; Borno, 126; Cross River, 85; Delta, 193; Ebonyi, 115, and 108 in Edo.
The commission’s records also indicated that in Ekiti, 132 candidates will vie for assembly seats in the elections; Enugu, 155; Gombe, 101; Imo, 256; Jigawa, 82; Kaduna, 113; Kano, 249, and Kastina, 16. Kebbi has 109 candidates; Kogi, 110; Kwara, 125; Lagos, 209; Nasarawa state and Niger, 117 each; 191 candidates in Ogun; 172 in Ondo; Osun, 195; Oyo 241; Plateau, 87; Rivers and Sokoto, 163 each, Taraba, 111; Yobe, 70, and Zamfara, 148.