After the Presidential/National Assembly elections in February, March 2023 was another important month in Nigeria’s history. Governorship and state assembly elections originally billed for March 11, 2023 were pushed to March 18, 2023 for logistics reasons. And the results were interesting.
In Ebonyi state, then Governor Dave Nwaeze Umahi, who defected from PDP to APC a few years ago, proved that when push comes to shove, the tough gets going. The governor’s anointed successor, Francis Nwifuru (then incumbent Ebonyi state House of Assembly speaker), won the gubernatorial election comfortably.
For Umahi’s candidate to have defeated both LP and PDP in the election on a platform (APC) that was not so popular in this zone, I give kudos to him. Umahi was a champion in the 2023 general elections for being able to endear APC to the electorate in Ebonyi state. Leader of APC in Ebonyi state, Umahi’s party lost only the presidential election, winning all others – National Assembly, Governorship and House of Assembly polls.
There was no gubernatorial election in Anambra and Imo states in March, 2023. However, Imo state governor Hope Uzodinma of APC proved his mettle as his party cleared 25 of the 27 state House of Assembly seats. That was a massive victory in the HOA poll. One could not declare Uzodinma a champion as yet until the outcome of the November 2023 Imo governorship poll when he would be standing for re-election.
As it turned out, Uzodinma won that election by a landslide, winning in all of the state’s 27 local government areas. He thereby earned his place as a political colossus and champion. Similarly, though Anambra state governor, Charles Soludo, was not up for election, his APGA party won the majority seats in the House of Assembly election — 17 of the total 30. Labour had 7, PDP and YPP three each. Going by that result, APGA and Governor Soludo still held the ace as at April, 2023. However, the political calculus of Anambra may change by the next gubernatorial election in 2025.
Disappointingly, the LP has only one governor (out of a possible 36 in the federation) to its name which is Alex Otti of Abia state. Labour Party was the fall guy in the 2023 governorship election
held in five of the six states in the South-south zone, all of which had been PDP controlled states since birth of the fourth republic in 1999. The odd state is Cross River whose governor, Ben Ayade, defected from PDP to APC sometime ago, automatically, making him the APC leader in that state. Ayade lost his senatorial bid and his APC also lost the presidential election in February 2023.
For being able to put aside its setback in the presidential and National Assembly elections to emerge tops at the governorship poll, Ayade’s Cross River state APC is a champion of the March 18 election. More so when the APC candidate’s closest rival, PDP’s Sandy Onor, was backed by PDP heavy weights like former governors Donald Duke, Liyel Imoke, among others. And, especially when winner of the presidential election in the state, LP’s Peter Obi, was in Cross River state to personally direct his supporters (the Obidient movement) to vote for Onor.
Notwithstanding these obstacles, APC’s Bassey Otu still won the guber race and is now governor. Kudos to him. Edo and Bayelsa states are not due for gubernatorial polls yet. The other states in this zone – Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta – are still controlled by the PDP as the party won in these areas. PDP won the November 2023 off-cycle election in Bayelsa. So, all states in this zone except Cross River are controlled by the PDP.
Expectedly, there were no surprises in the South-west zone. This columnist had predicted that notwithstanding the noise about the then president-elect losing his home state of Lagos in the presidential election to the LP, the APC would win the March 18 poll as the party would tighten up and restrategise. And, it so happened as Governor Jide Sanwo-Olu beat the LP candidate by a wide margin, according to INEC’s result. Ditto Katsina state where the APC’s national leader cum Nigeria’s then incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari ‘s ruling party lost the presidential election to the PDP and won only one senatorial seat. This rather embarrassing loss made then Governor Aminu Masari to sack a number of his appointees.
Much water passed under the bridge in the intervening three weeks before this election. APC Katsina intensified its campaigns, some PDP members crossed over to APC. Thence, APC’s Dikko Umar Radda beat PDP’s Garba Yakubu Lado 859,892 to 486,620 votes and was declared governor, thereby saving President Buhari further blushes.
Though a close call, Nasarawa state’s Governor Abdullahi Sule scored 347,209 votes as against PDP’s candidate David Ombugadu’s 283,016 votes to emerge winner.
However, APC did not win majority seats in the State House of Assembly election. It won nine seats, PDP eight while SDP and NNPP have two seats each in the 20-member House. Of course, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his NNPP was a champion of this election. He was the only one that won with over a million votes in the presidential election in Kano state and his candidate again won the governorship election with over a million votes. However, he may be regarded as a local champion as he could not extend his ‘magic wand’ beyond Kano state.
APC Benue state and its leader George Akume are joint champion for winning all four elections, namely, Presidential, National Assembly, Governorship and House of Assembly; a feat which none of the states that borders it could achieve. Akume deserves special kudos for getting a winning team led by its gubernatorial candidate, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia, that galvanised the electorate to vote for APC. Significantly, APC regained Sokoto from PDP. Last time when PDP’s Governor Aminu Tambuwal was re elected in 2019, he won by a slim margin of about 300 votes over the APC candidate.
The ‘fall guy’ in this governorship poll is the Labour party. LP was the ‘man of the match’ so to speak in the February polls as its presidential candidate gathered over six million votes in just nine months of entering the race while the party also won a number of National Assembly seats, the most significant being the senate seat of Abuja, the nation’s capital. In this election, however, LP was found out. It did not win any governorship election in the South-west and South-south zones. It only managed to win one in the South-east. In the whole of the Northern region, it was somewhat invisible as the governorship race here was between APC and PDP. The Supreme Court’s final verdict is being anxiously awaited for, particularly, Plateau and Kano states this Friday, January 12, 2024. This could tilt the final tabulation figures for APC, PDP and NNPP.
Thumps down also to the social media with its fake news, one of which was the trending social media news that the APC’s sole female governorship candidate in Adamawa state won the election. Congratulatory messages were already pouring in for her, including one from the British embassy (later deleted). It was false. Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of PDP retained his post, re-elected and affirmed recently by the courts.
Ikeano writes via [email protected] 08034077519
