2015 Tight race for govt houses RIVERS: Wike vs Peterside In Rivers State, the battle for the Brick House is between a former Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, and the member representing Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro at the House of Representatives, Dakuku Peterside. While Wike is running on the platform of the PDP, Peterside is contesting the governorship under the APC. Wike had emerged twice as the Executive Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area from 1999 to 2007. He was later appointed the Chief of Staff to Governor Rotimi Amaechi from 2007 to 2011. The Ikwerre-born politician was later appointed Minister of State for Education under President Goodluck Jonathan administration from where he resigned to join the governorship race in the state. Peterside, who emerged the consensus candidate of the APC in Rivers State, came into the limelight as the Chairman, Opobo/Nkoro LGA (2002 – 2003) and as Rivers State Commissioner for Works from 2007 to 2011. He contested election on the platform of the PDP and won a seat to represent Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro in the House of Representatives, where he is currently the Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Down Stream). In terms of popularity and acceptability, the duo is well known to Rivers people and the winner may emerge based on the strength of his campaign. ENUGU: Ugwuanyi vs Eze, and Ezea After the primary conducted on December 8 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, a member of the House of Representatives, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, emerged the governorship candidate of the PDP in Enugu State. Ugwuanyi’s victory was expected, as two other aspirants – Anayo Onwuegbu and Chinedu Onuh – had stepped down for him before the exercise, in line with a peace accord between Governor Sullivan Chime and Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, who have put their immense political weight behind him. However, there was a parallel PDP primary election held at Filbon Hotel, New Haven, which was won by Senator Ayogu Eze. The senator, who had kicked against Ugwuanyi’s earlier endorsement as the consensus candidate by Chime and party stakeholders, is insisting that he is the authentic flag bearer of the party; a claim the leadership of the state chapter of the party had dismissed. While Ugwuanyi, who has been representing Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency at the National Assembly since 2003, is said to be popular at the grass roots of Enugu, Eze, a journalist who has been representing Enugu-North at the Senate since 2007, is believed to have a stronger presence at the national level. Whoever finally emerges as the PDP candidate would face the flag bearer of the APC, Okey Ezea, a veteran governorship contestant who had lost to the ruling party in previous elections. Ezea, a businessman with interests in shipping, lost to Chime as the candidate of the Labour Party in 2011. OYO: Ajimobi vs Ladoja, and Alao-Akala Ajimobi is the incumbent Governor of Oyo State and candidate of the APC; he remains the man to beat. A major strength of his administration is said to be peace, which has seen the state flourishing in terms of security. The Ibadan-born 65-year-old governor contested for the governorship seat in 2007 as candidate of All Nigeria Peoples Party but lost to Adebayo Alao-Akala of the PDP. He challenged his loss in court but was unsuccessful. He defected to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (now APC) and won the party’s ticket to challenge Alao-Akala in 2011, which he won. He became a senator in 2003 on the platform of Alliance for Democracy. Another strong contender to watch is the 71-old Rashidi Ladoja, the national leader of Accord Party and the party’s governorship candidate. He was a governor in the state and contested for a re-election in 2011 as AP candidate after defecting PDP. Having lost the 2011contest, Ladoja fortified his party in the state, concentrating on Oke-Ogun area of the state where the party struggled to get votes in the 2011 election. His fan base was Ibadan, his town of origin, before spreading the party’s wings to other parts of the state. Currently, he is seen as a candidate that will give the incumbent Ajimobi a tough fight. Still in Oyo, Adebayo Alao-Akala, a former governor of the state who was defeated by Ajimobi in 2011, is another prominent contender. He left the PDP on Monday after he disagreed with the party over the conduct of the governorship primary. The election produced former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, as the party’s candidate. On Wednesday, Alao-Akala was given the governorship ticket of the Labour Party. He is from Ogbomoso but he has political ally across the state, especially in the Oke-Ogun area. He had contested and won the chairmanship seat of the Ogbomoso-North Local Government Area on the platform of the All Peoples Party in 1998. He later became the Deputy Governor and later Governor of Oyo State and after Ladoja was impeached. He also won in 2007 to become governor again. OGUN: Amosun vs Isiaka or Bankole The only clear contender in the governorship race in Ogun State as of Friday is the incumbent Governor Ibikunle Amosun. He is the sole contestant in the APC. Amosun has been the governor of the state for over three and a half years. The 2011 governorship candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria, Gboyega Isiaka, on Tuesday emerged winner in the state PDP governorship primary by polling 705 votes, while Kayode Amusan polled 151 and Segun Adewale scored 0 votes. While the the three aspirants participated in the primary, nine others, including a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, abstained. Just as the primary was underway in Abeokuta, the National Working Committee of the PDP ordered that the primary should not hold, and declared its outcome “null and void.” But the state chairman of the PDP, Adebayo Dayo, said he had not received any directive either from the NWC or National Executive Committee of the party ordering him not to conduct the governorship primary. However, informed sources have said Bankole appeared to be the choice candidate of the power bloc in Abuja. It is remains unclear who will be the standard bearer of the PDP in Ogun in 2015. DELTA: Okowa vs Ogboru Two candidates have been thrown up as forerunners in the governorship race in Delta State. They are Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa of the PDP; and Great Ogboru of the Labour Party. If experience is key in elections, then Ogboru could as well carry the day, having contested the 2003 election as the candidate of Alliance for Democracy; the 2007 and 2011 elections as the Democratic Peoples Party candidate. Ogboru lost in the three elections, coming third in 2003, and second in 2007 and 2011. Ogboru is said to be wealthy and enjoys the high voting population of the Urhobo ethnic group in every election. Though Urhobo by birth, his mother is an Igbo in Delta-North, and his wife is Ijaw, whose people dominate Delta-South senatorial zone. He could draw sympathies from all the zones as a result. This time, the Urhobo nation now has another candidate in O’tega Emerhor, who is the candidate of APC, the second largest party in the state. Okowa, on the other hand, has grown from being a Local Government Area secretary to becoming a senator in 2011. He had been Chairman of Ika-North East LGA and commissioner on several occassions between 1999 and 2006. He became the Secretary to the Delta State Government in 2007 and senator in 2011. He hails from Owa, an Igbo-speaking town in Delta-North, which lays claim to the governorship of the state on the grounds of equity, having not produced the governor of the state since creation. One factor that plays in his favour is the fact that he is the candidate of the PDP, which is not only the ruling party in the state, but the largest political party in the state. NIGER: Sani vs Nasko In Niger State, there are two frontline candidates in the governorship race. Abu Bello is of the APC and Umaru Nasko of the ruling PDP. Bello, son of a former military Governor of old Kano State, Col. Sani Bello (retd.), until his appointment as commissioner by Governor Babangida Aliyu in 2007, had been in the private sector. The APC candidate, who sits on a multi-billion naira family business, is said to have the financial muscle to make impact in the 274 wards in the state. Nasko, a 40-year-old son of Gen. Gado Nasko, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, has been in the corridors of power since 2007, serving once as Commissioner for Tourism, Works and Youth development. He left government for one year and returned as Special Adviser to the Governor on Youth Matters in 2012. He was the Chief of Staff of the Government House but resigned to join the governorship race. He is said to be the preferred candidate of Aliyu, which explains the massive support he has enjoyed from the state government. Till the date, Nasko remains the governorship candidate with the highest number of petitions from within and outside the ruling party challenging his candidature. AKWA IBOM: Umana vs Emmanuel The battle in Akwa Ibom State is between the APC and the PDP candidates. Umana Okon Umana of the APC, who won the Akwa Ibom State Public Service Award for Outstanding Performance in 1991, had been appointed as member of several administrative panels of enquiry in the state. He became the Director of Budget and was later appointed as Permanent Secretary still in charge of budget In politics, he was the Administrative Secretary of Social Democratic Party in Ikono Local Government Area in 1990; Supervisory Electoral Officer for Etinan Local Government Area during the 1996 Local Government ‘zero-party’ elections; Commissioner of Finance during the second term of Governor Victor Attah (2003-2007); and was appointed Secretary to the State Government in 2007, when Governor Godswill Akpabio took over. The PDP candidate, Udom Emmanuel, an Ibibio who, until his appointment, was an Executive Director on the Board of Zenith Bank Plc from December 2006. He was later appointed as Secretary to Akwa Ibom State Government on April 1, 2013. PLATEAU: Pwajok v Lalong Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Mr. Gyang Nyam Shom Pwajok, otherwise known as GNS Pwajok, is set to take over from Mr. Jonah Jang as the Governor of Plateau state. Pwajok emerged as the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party at the party’s governorship primary that was conducted under tight security at the Rwang Pam Stadium, Jos. At the primary, he beat 16 other aspirants, among whom were a former Deputy Governor, Mr. Ignatius Longan, and the second civilian governor of the state, Amb. Fidelis Tapgun However, he will have a strong challenge in a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Simon Lalong, who also emerged as the candidate of the All Progressive Congress. Both the PDP and the APC are the most prominent political parties in Plateau. GNS, as Pwajok is popular called, hailed from Jos-North Local Government Area of the state. He is said to be of Du extraction, the same tribe with Jang. This factor had pitted the outgoing governor against all other contestants, who saw his support for Pwajok as a way of perpetuating Jang dynasty on the Plateau. Lalong also has the advantage of coming from the southern zone where some say the governorship position had been zoned to. There is the fear in Pwajok’s camp that the emergence of Lalong from the one may put the APC at advantage. LAGOS: Ambode vs Agbaje With their governorship primaries done, dice is cast between the ruling APC and the opposition PDP in Lagos State. Akinwunmi Ambode is the candidate of the APC, while Jimi Agbaje is of the PDP. They are set to slug it out during the governorship election on February 28, 2015. Politically, Ambode is said to be a green horn. However, he cannot be pushed over in the forthcoming governorship election, essentially, because he is firmly supported by the political machinery of a former Governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu, which has been winning elections in the state since 1999. Tinubu’s support is believed to have been responsible for Ambode’s victory at the APC governorship primary, where he was pitted against more experienced politicians. On the other hand, Jimi Agbaje, is a known politician. He rose to political fame in Lagos in 2007, when he endeared himself to many Lagosians by running an issue-based governorship campaign on the platform of a relatively unknown party – the Democratic Peoples Alliance. He came third in that election, behind the candidate of the Action Congress and the incumbent governor, Babatunde Fashola, and the then candidate of the PDP, Musiliu Obanikoro. With the support of Lagos PDP leaders, such as Bode George and Adeseye Ogunlewe, as well as the Presidency, Agbaje is said to be more sure-footed now than he was in 2007. ABIA: Ikpeazu v Otti, and Ufomba The major contenders to watch in the governorship election in Abia State are the flag bearers of the ruling PDP, and the opposition All Progressive Grand Alliance. The PDP candidate, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, will enjoy privileges from his party as the one in power. The party is said to enjoying strong support in Abia. Ikpeazu, though is not considered an heavy weight politically, especially by his kinsmen who contested the PDP ticket against him, is rapidly gaining popularity across the state after his emergence as candidate. Besides, his people – the Ngwa nationality – who pride themselves as the single most populous clan spanning into seven of the 17 councils in the state, are also working for his success at the poll. PDP had zoned its governorship ticket to Abia-South Senatorial District as an antidote to decades of complaints of marginalisation by the Ukwa/Ngwa people. Perhaps in favour of the PDP candidate, the opposition parties in Abia are currently embroiled in crisis. Both APGA and the All Progressive Congress are factionalised, thus diminishing their chances of putting up a formidable fight against the PDP candidate. While the APC is relatively on the political scene in Abia, Alex Otti and Regan Ufomba are currently laying claims to APGA’s ticket. IMO: Okorocha vs Ihediaoha In Imo State, the two candidates to watch are the incumbent Governor Rochas Okorocha of the APC and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, of the PDP. Okorocha picked APC’s ticket in less than 24 hours after he lost out in his presidential bid. His son-in-law, Chidi Nwosu, who had been named the APC flag bearer, had stepped down for Okorocha. Despite being the incumbent, he still has to fight hard to retain his seat as the APC is relatively new to the electorate in the South-East. Again, Okorocha had defected from the PDP to the APC, a development that had pitched him against some of his followers in the PDP. On the other hand, Ihedioha of the PDP is said to be working hard to keep the PDP family in the state united. Some of the aspirants who contested the PDP ticket with him have yet to admit defeat in the primaries. One of them, Sen. Ifeanyi Araume, who hails from Okigwe Senatorial District, is still laying claims at the PDP ticket, alleging that victory was allocated to Ihedioha in error. Similarly, Okigwe zone also feels robbed of its turn to complete a second term in office, following the failure of ex-Governor Ikedi Ohakim to win a re-election in 2011 and the return of power to Orlu zone, which was in power for eight years through former Governor Achike Udenwa. BAUCHI: Jatau vs Abubakar In Bauchi, the race is a straight fight between Auwal Jatau of the PDP and Mohammed Abubakar of the APC. Jatau, is currently representing Zaki Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. He emerged as the candidate of the PDP after defeating seven other aspirants. Among them were a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed; senator representing Bauchi-North, Babayo Gamawa; and his Bauchi-South counterpart, Adamu Gumba. He also defeated Mohammed Pate, Bappah Azare and Aminu Hammayo. Jatau is said to be backed by the state government. He got 1, 368 votes to beat his closest rival, Garba, who got 116 at the primary. In the APC, Abubakar is the party’s flag bearer. He defeated seven other contestants in the primary election. They are Ibrahim Zailani, Yakubu Lame, Sadiq Mahmud, Mohammed Umar and Nuhu Gidado. CROSS RIVER: Ayade vs Ochicha In Cross River State, the PDP has picked Prof. Benedict Ayade, as its governorship candidate, while the APC has pitched its tent with Odey Ochicha. Both aspirants are from the Cross River-North Senatorial District. Coincidentally too, both parties chose to pick their candidates from the district that had never produced a governor since Akwa Ibom State was carved out from Cross River. Ayade is the incumbent senator representing the district at the National Assembly. His foray into the governorship race was one that left pundits in doubt until the last minute. It was not until few days to the governorship primary that it became obvious that he was the preferred choice of Governor Liyel Imoke. He emerged victorious at the party’s primary by polling 752 votes out of 782 votes cast. Following his emergence, the walk to the Government House in Calabar on May 29, 2015, became a distance away as the PDP is said to have a strong grip on the state. The PDP is sometimes branded as the only existing party in Cross River. Ochicha, on the other hand, is a seasoned political scientist and retired administrator from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. His emergence was not unexpected because he was regarded as the most formidable aspirant among the array of contestants in the APC. Although the APC is seen as an underdog in the political milieu in Cross River, it may spring a surprise, following likely defection from the ruling party by aggrieved aspirants. BORNO: Shettima vs Lawan The battle for the soul of Borno State is between the incumbent Governor Kashim Shettima, who is the candidate of APC, and Gambo Lawan of the PDP. Shettima, in the 2011 election, was seen as a lightweight politician in a big robe of the All Nigeria People’s Party. Though he had the mandate of a big party, he nearly lost to a heavyweight, Mohammed Goni, the Second Republic governor of old Borno State who had the disservice of being in a relatively smaller party. Shettima was said to have won with his last-minute endorsement by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who was then the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change and now of the APC. For Lawan, who is a one-time Chairman of Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and a former Chairman of the defunct Grassroots Democratic Movement from Kareto in Mobbar, aspiration for the biggest office in the state is not new to him. He had lost to Mutawalli Kashim Imam at the PDP primary in 2003. The PDP candidate is alleged to be a loyalist of ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 07:44:53 +0000
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