Politics:
Echoes of governorship contest

Joy, Agony greets the outcome of the 2019 governorship election with APC winning in 13 states, PDP securing 9 states, while 6 states were declared inconclusive


The Governorship and House of Assembly election earlier scheduled for March 2, 2019 have taken place on the re-scheduled date of March 9 in 29 states. The election witnessed a lot of upsets, drama and the latest word in our electioneering lexicon, inconclusive.

There were also complaints of irregularities, military interference and abuse of privileges by politicians and the electoral umpire. All these culminated in the cancellation of results in some areas and the rejection of the outcome of the result in some others.

Out of the 29 states that the election was conducted, the All Progressive Congress (APC) won in 13 states, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) won in 9 states, while results of 6 states were declared inconclusive. The states that were declared inconclusive due to various reasons ranging from electoral imbalances and violence according to INEC were, Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Plateau, and Sokoto. The election in Rivers state was suspended by the electoral umpire, INEC over widespread violence. Of the 22 states where winners have been announced, 12 governors were re-elected. They are Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia state, Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom state, Ben Ayade of Cross River state, Patrick Okowa of Delta state, Dave Umahi of Ebonyi state, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu state. Also on the list of re-elected governors are Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa state, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state, Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina state, Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi state, Abubakar Bello of Niger state, and Darius Ishaku of Taraba state.

The new faces in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum include Babagana Zulum of Borno state, Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe state, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state, and Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state. The rest are Emeka Ihedioha of Imo state, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state, Seyi Makinde of Oyo state, Mai Mala Buni of Yobe state and Muktar Idris of Zamfara state. Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that supplementary elections will take place on Saturday, 23rd of March 2019 in the six states where the exercise was declared inconclusive. According to Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, the supplementary elections will also take place in polling units in all states where State Assembly elections were declared inconclusive and winners could not be declared.

Below is a breakdown of why supplementary elections will take place in the aforementioned six states: Adamawa State Umaru Fintiri (PDP) - 367,471 Jibrilla Bindow (APC) - 334,995 Margin - 32,476 Cancelled votes - 40,988

Bauchi State Bala Mohammed (PDP) - 469,512 Mohammed Abubakar (APC) - 465,453 Margin - 4,059 Cancelled votes - 45,312

Benue State Samuel Ortom (PDP) - 410,576 Emmanuel Jime (APC) - 329,022 Margin - 81,554 Cancelled votes - 121,019

Kano State Abba Yusuf (PDP) - 1,014,474 Abdullahi Ganduje (APC) - 987,819 Margin - 26,655 Cancelled votes - 128,572

Plateau State Simon Lalong (APC) - 583,255 Jerry Useni (PDP) - 538,326 Margin - 44,929 Cancelled votes - 49,377

Sokoto State Aminu Tambuwal (PDP) - 489,558 Aliyu Ahmed (APC) - 486,145 Margin - 3,413 Cancelled votes - 75,403