Nigeria will tomorrow March 9, 2019 witness governorship and state houses of assembly elections across 28 states of the federation, since 7 states plus the FCT won’t experience elections.
Arctic Reporters have keenly compiled the situation of things across 10 states of where the two major parties; All Progressive Congress and People’s Democratic Party stand a chance of winning elections.
The pinpointed states are Oyo, Ogun, Lagos, Imo, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kwara, Benue, Kaduna, and Rivers.
- Rivers State
Ordinarily, Rivers State is a PDP state, even the current leader of the APC in the state and current Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi was once a PDP governor in the state.As though, that weren’t enough, the APC currently features no candidates in the election due to court judgements restricting the party from fielding her candidates.
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The reason is because of irregularities of primary elections conducted by two factions of the APC in the state.
But with a recent move by the APC in the state to support the candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), the politcal game has changed.The coalition implies that two political parties will now challenge Governor Nyesome Wike of the PDP.
- Kaduna
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of the All Progressive Congress is seeking re-election bid in the state.
El-Rufai is criticized for choosing a Muslim deputy governorship candidate along and the Christians in Southern Kaduna may not vote for him.
Also, the governor who was lately famous for his body-bag speech has not really performed in terms of security in his state, this coupled with other factors may pose a challenge to his re-election bid. El-Rufai would be contendiding against Isa Mohammad Ashiru of the People’s Democratic Party.
- Benue
Benue state delivered Atiku Abubakar during the recently conducted presidential election in the country. This is as a result of the influence of the incumbent governor, Samuel Ortom, who is also seeking re-election bid under the PDP.
However, the APC may still maintain hope since its candidate, Senator George Akume may just be lucky to secure the votes of Benue People.
The Senator has lost in all his four attempts to clinch victory and return to the Senate.
- Kwara
The North Central state has a unique case. A strong political movement known as OTOGE (meaning Enough is Enough), has risen against the PDP. The movement saw Senate President, Bukola Saraki lose his bid to return to the senate. Whether the Movement is strong enough to completely destroy his dynasty would be revealed from the outcome of tomorrow’s polls. - Zamfara
Zamfara state is a strong APC state but chances of the candidate of the party, Idris Shehu, winning elections may be slim. This is as a result of his low score in security when it comes to the state, and also due to the series of legal battles he faced before he was finally cleared by INEC to participate in the Election. Thus, Shehu may have a tough time defeating Bello Mohammed of the PDP. - Sokoto
Sokoto state has a funny situation, as the election is between an incumbent governor; Aminu Tambuwal who recently defected from the APC to the PDP, and his former deputy, Aliyu Ahmed Sokoto, who refused to defect with him and happens to become the gubernatorial candidate of the APC to challenge his former boss.
Though, Sokoto delivered for President Buhari in the just concluded presidential elections, it is unclear of they can defeat incumbent Governor, Aminu Tambuwal.TRENDING NOW: If I lose Election, I will do this – Ganduje
- Imo
Imo state is the state with the highest number of governorship aspirants in the 2019 elections. The state has a total of 70 candidates. However, analysts say that only five have realistic hopes of emerging as the governor of the south eastern state.They are: Senator Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ugwumba Uche Nwosu of the Action Alliance (AA), Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Senator Ifeanyi Araraume of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Ikedi Ohakim of the Accord Party (AP).
- Lagos
No doubt, Lagos state is a strong hold of the All Progressives Congress. Incumbent Governor Ambode is of the ruling APC, plus the fact that it is the home of the party’s national leader, Bola Tinubu, with this two major considerations, one would expect the south western state to be won by the APC.
However, following the Internal challenges the party faced during its primaries in the state which saw Incumbent Governor Ambode losing to Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the PDP may just leverage on that, - Ogun
Ogun state has three leading governorship candidates namely; Dapo Abiodun of the APC, Akinlade Adekunle Abdulkkabir of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Buruji Kashamu of the PDP.
Ordinarily, since the APC is in power in the state, it would have been easier for the party to win elections in the state but following internal crises which led to incumbent governor Ibikunle Amosun, dumping the candidate of his party and choosing that of APM, Akinlade Adekunle Abdulkkabir, the PDP may just leverage on that and score its points. - Oyo The two main candidates are Adelabu Adebayo Adekola of the APC and Oluseyi Makinde of the PDP. Though Oyo state is currently an APC state, President Muhammadu Buhari lost to Atiku Abubakar of the PDP in the recently conducted presidential election in the state.
