The various political parties and their foot soldiers are back in the trenches ahead of this weekend’s governorship and house of assembly elections.
They are determined to either consolidate their success or reverse their disappointment in the recent presidential elections across the 36 states.
Reports from the field yesterday showed that the parties, after rigorous stocktaking of their performances in the last polls, have largely redrawn their strategies to ensure that they come out victorious this time around.
Voters and logistics are being mobilised on a large scale, multiple sources said.
Observers are of the view that voting in the coming elections may differ from what obtained the last time out.
According to them, emphasis will shift substantially from the centre (presidency) to local politics where several tendencies will be staking everything they have.
However, the governorship election will not take place in Edo, Bayelsa, Osun, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi and Ondo states where the incumbents still have time to wind down.
In Lagos State, for example, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has rolled out its campaign machinery with the Chief of Staff to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Mr Tayo Ayinde, travelling to Badagry yesterday for what he called a thank you visit for the support of the people during the February 25 presidential election.
The APC surprisingly emerged as runner-up to Labour Party in the presidential election.
Ayinde, who doubles as Director General of Tinubu/Sanwo-Olu Independent Campaign Council, thanked the Badagry electorate, various groups, traditional rulers, religious bodies, youths, students, trade unions and associations for voting for President-elect Bola Tinubu and other candidates in the recent elections.
Ayinde urged Badagry voters to double their efforts in the upcoming elections to ensure a more resounding victory for Sanwo-Olu and the two State House of Assembly candidates in the area.
He said: “The time has come for you to show this same gesture to our Governor, Sanwo-Olu, in his reelection bid this coming Saturday.
“This is the time for you, residents of Badagry, to take the campaign to your respective neighbours so that his votes will double what we had on February 25.
“You have come out in large numbers to vote for President- Elect Tinubu and made history; I’m appealing to you to come out en masse and vote Governor Sanwo-Olu on March 11.
“I want to thank all of you for this great achievement. We will not take it for granted.
“What we see as results tell us that we must do a lot more in Badagry because that is when your lives and that of your children will be better.”
Eti-Osa traditional, community leaders pledge support for Sanwo-Olu
Also yesterday, traditional rulers and community leaders in the 62 communities in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos expressed support for the re-election bid of Governor Sanwo-Olu.
They sued for peaceful coexistence among all residents of the area and urged them to come out en masse to perform their civic responsibility without fear of victimisation and harassment from any quarters during the polls.
Speaking during a press conference held at Ikota Primary School, Lagos, the Chairman of the Baale’s Forum in Eti-Osa Local Government Area, Chief Wasiu Alli-Balogun, who is the Baale of Lafiaji, implored Lagos residents in Eti-Osa Local Government Area to file out in large numbers and re-elect Sanwo-Olu because of the remarkable achievements of the governor during his first term in office.
“We want to appeal to those that were annoyed with the last elections that they should forget what happened. Let us forget the past and face the future.
“Governor Sanwo-Olu means peace. He wants progress for Eti-Osa and Lagos as a whole. We need to support him and give him votes so that he can be able to complete the work he has started,” the Baale appealed.
Chief Alli-Balogun, who claimed there were many irregularities in last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections in Eti-Osa Local Government Area, noted that many eligible voters were disenfranchised as they could not locate the new polling units where their names were before the close of the election.
He also appealed to all aggrieved members of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and residents in Eti-Osa Local Government Area to sheath their swords and come out en-masse to vote for Governor Sanwo-Olu and other APC candidates, stressing that the governor has done so much for the state and deserves to be given a second term.
Obaseki under pressure to deliver Edo
Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, both of whom lost their polling units in the presidential and National Assembly elections to APC and LP, are under immense pressure to salvage the situation for the PDP this weekend.
Obaseki, who defected from the APC to the PDP in the run-up to the September 2020 governorship election in the state, is not even in the good books of many influential PDP leaders in the state.
The chances of PDP winning the majority of the seats in the state assembly this weekend look bleak on account of the sore relationship between the governor and many party stalwarts, including the National Vice Chairman, South-south, Chief Dan Orbih.
Party sources said the governor and his deputy have been trying to mend fences with aggrieved members to help them achieve victory this weekend.
Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, a chieftain of PDP, however, insisted that the victories of APC and LP at the presidential and legislative polls would be challenged at the election petitions tribunal to ensure “justice”. He described the results as unacceptable.
I’m still favoured to be re-elected, says Makinde
Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, whose party, PDP, lost to the APC in the presidential and National Assembly elections, is optimistic that this weekend’s polls will be a different ball game entirely in the state.
Speaking on a radio station in Ibadan, Makinde said he was happy to be part of the process that “redrew the country’s electoral map” last week.
His words: “I supported fairness, justice and equity. I supported a united Nigeria; a Nigeria that gives opportunity to every part of this country.
“You know, you allow people to express themselves. A lot of our people and that is what they decided to do. They decided that look, we want after eight years of presidency in the North, they want it to come to the South and this place being South-West, one of theirs was a candidate, so they supported one of their own.
“I am glad that I am a part of a process that redrew the electoral map of Nigeria. That arrogance, I believe with the result of last Saturday’s election, is basically behind us. Now we know that people will have to seek alignment.
“If you want to rule this country, you are not just going to say oh, because I am from a certain part of this country, then that is the only qualification I require to rule this country. Now, you have to build bridges, and reach out to others.”
Makinde’s ally in the G-5, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, was in Ibadan on Friday to lend his support to his host.
He said whatever cooperation was at play during the presidential election had gone with that poll.
He said this week’s elections are all about his party.
The APC governorship candidate in Oyo State, Senator Teslim Folarin, met on Friday with several key leaders of the PDP in the state who are opposed to Makinde. The group is led by a former deputy governor of the state, Hazeem Gbolarumi.
Sources said Folarin had sought the group’s cooperation to defeat Makinde.
The gubernatorial candidate of the Accord in Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, is also not giving up on his quest for the position.
Yesterday, he debunked for the umpteenth time rumour of his withdrawal from the race, calling it the work of political desperados determined to keep Oyo in a web of lies and ineptitude.
Adelabu, a former Deputy Governor, Operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), maintained that the people of the state are already aware of the antics of some politicians which cannot take them anywhere in the governorship election.
“Their anger is that the citizens have woken up and are ready to take back our state. Through my campaign, I have not and will not engage in their politics of character assassination, bitterness and lies,” the Bayo Adelabu Campaign Organisation (BACO) said in a statement.
It said at no time did Adelabu hold “any meetings with any candidates or political parties with a view to stepping down.”
APC, PDP gear up for Ondo assembly polls
The battle for the control of the Ondo State House of Assembly promises to be a straight battle between the APC, which swept last week’s elections in the state, and the PDP.
In the February 25th polls, APC won in the 18 local government areas. It won all the three senatorial seats and eight out of nine House of Representatives seats.
Other political parties like the Labour Party are expected not to show any surprises because candidates of the parties did not carry out any serious campaigns across the state.
Moreover, the ruling APC would do all it can to win majority of seats in the State Assembly just like it did in 2019.
What might work for the APC in next Saturday’s poll is that the various stakeholders agreed to work in unison just as they did in the 2020 governorship election. There are no factions within the party and many aggrieved aspirants have agreed not to challenge the outcome of the party primary in the law court.
Spokesman of the Ondo PDP, Kennedy Peretei, in an interview, said the party hoped to win no fewer than 16 out of the 26 seats in contention.
State Chairman of the Ondo APC, Engr. Ade Adetimehin, said the outcome of the presidential election had proven the state to belong to the progressive family.
Adetimehin said the party would repeat its feat in the February 25th election by winning all available seats in the Ondo Assembly.
More trouble for PDP in Delta as former SSG quits
Former Secretary to the Delta State Government (SSG), Comrade (Chief) Ovuozourie S. Macaulay, yesterday resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to add to the wave of desertion that has hit the party lately.
Macaulay, who is the Director-General of the Warri Uvwie and Environs Special Development Agency (WUEDA), disclosed this in a letter addressed to the Chairman of PDP Ward 5, Owhelegbo in Isoko North council area.
The top PDP chieftain’s resignation is coming one week to the governorship polls.
His resignation takes immediate effect.
“The decision to resign my membership of the PDP is based on the overt exhibition of impunity, blackmail, falsehood and disregard for party rules by the leadership,” he said.
“Over the past years, I painfully endured the arrogance and misdemeanour of the party leadership and actually appealed for a change to no avail.
“Thus, I am left with no choice but to bow out of the party.”
The mass desertion and disenchantment with the leadership of the party was largely responsible for its poor performance in the presidential and national assembly elections.
Until last week, the PDP was the dominant party in the state.
It came a distant third last week even though the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, is the PDP presidential running mate.
It is understood that a significant realignment of forces is currently taking place in the state with former governor James Ibori placing his political machinery at the disposal of the APC governorship candidate, Chief Ovie Omo-Agege.
We’re up to the task this time around, APGA vows
Chieftains of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) which was roundly beaten by Labour Party in Anambra State during the Presidential and National Assembly Elections vowed that things would be different this time around.
They told The Nation that Governor Charles Soludo could not afford to run a successful administration in the state without a legislature controlled by his own party.
All hands will therefore be on the deck for APGA to go all out and contest fiercely this week, they said.
PDP sweats in Enugu
The PDP hierarchy in Enugu State, including Governor Ifeanyi Ugwanyi who lost his senatorial bid in the February 25 election, have reactivated their machinery in the hope of recovering part of the ground lost in that election.
However, observers say most voters in the state were more interested in the presidential election and are likely to give preference to the PDP and APGA in this week’s elections.
Since 1999, the electorate in Enugu has been voting PDP candidates from top to bottom with nothing less than 70 per cent votes cast.
PDP battles to keep pace with APGA, APC in Ebonyi
The PDP is battling to keep pace with APGA and APC in Ebonyi State ahead of the governorship and State Assembly elections.
The party lost the governorship seat for the first time in its history in Ebonyi in 2020 when Governor David Umahi decided to defect to the APC.
The party still seemingly remained strong in the state as it had eight of the nine National Assembly members from the state and more than one third of the state Assembly members who refused to defect with the governor.
However the party was soon beset with infighting in the lead up to the primaries.
The situation worsened after the primaries as major stakeholders who were edged out defected to APC, APGA or LP.
A few others who stayed back also vowed to work against the party from within for other parties in the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
The result was a total route of the PDP in the elections. It lost all but one of the National Assembly seats while its presidential candidate came third in the state behind the Labour Party and APC candidates.
In the senatorial election, the APC cleared the three seats up for grabs. The APC also won three of the six House of Representatives seats already announced. The Labour party got the other one with one seat yet to be announced.
Although APGA did not get any seat, its senatorial candidate convincingly won Ezza North council which is the stronghold of its governorship candidate.
It is believed that Ezza North/Ishielu constituency election which has not been announced will likely be won by the party as its lead is said to be too large to be overtaken by the other parties.
Alarmed by the results, the PDP and its governorship candidate, Ifeanyi Odii, have been scrambling all week to steady the sinking ship.
It was gathered that Mr Odii has since Monday been holding several meetings with various stakeholders of the party from the various local governments in the state on the way forward.
The APC, led by Senator-elect for Ebonyi South and incumbent governor, David Umahi, though upbeat and bouyed by the results, has also been holding several meetings and re-strategising ahead of the elections.
A party source told The Nation that it cannot rest on its oars as it was evident from the Presidential/NASS election that the Labour Party and APGA are a strong force in the state.
From the look of things, it appears that the APGA candidate, Bernard Odoh, is poised to win at least three out of the four local governments in Ebonyi Central zone.
The Ebonyi North zone, if the results are to be believed, is totally APC while in the South, the APC and PDP may share the spoils.
The implication of this is that the APC may take the day.
The ouster of LP popular governorship aspirant, Edward Nkwegu at the Supreme Court during the week has dampened the growing popularity of the party.
The court-declared candidate of the party is said not to be a strong force and an unknown quantity hence the party is not expected to do well in the election.
However, Mr Odii and the PDP are expected to spring surprises at the election. This is because many Labour party candidates and stakeholders are former PDP members who left the PDP after the acrimonious primaries.
Many of them, who enjoyed the support of some PDP stakeholders during last week’s election, are set to return the favour to the PDP in the governorship election.
Fight to the finish likely in Imo
The victory of APC in the Presidential election may have galvanized the party ahead of this week’s election into the State Assembly.
A political analyst, Phillip Mejuobi, said it will be a fierce battle between APC and LP because of the impressive the latter made during the presidential election.
The governorship election will not take place in Imo until November but a source said the governor, Hope Uzodimma, must work hard to retain the majority in the house.
(TNT)
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