All elections in Nigeria come with their apprehensions. The two gubernatorial elections now at hand have theirs in large measures as follows:

Kogi State

The incumbent, seeking re-election in Kogi State is Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress, APC. His main challenger is Musa Wada of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. The party primaries that produced the two contestants were as usual turbulent because of sheer number of aspirants jostling for nomination as candidate. That was the first level of concern. The two main parties managed to successfully work and walked through that stage. Of course, there are other smaller parties that will be on the ballot but may not pull much weight. 

There are however fillers that Natasha Akpoti of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, the only female candidate in the election has a sizable following that may hurt the chances of Bello, the sitting Governor. A group called Women Supporting Women contributed money to purchase the statutory form for Akpieyi, lawyer and political activists. Even attempts by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to nullify her participation in the Election was fought until her name was put on the ballot. Reports indicate that the Governor’s hangers on are molesting Akpoti. She has cried out against intimidation by the Governor’s camp. She remained undeterred till this moment.

At the final campaign rally in Lokoja yesterday, the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari sounded like someone pleading for forgiveness of Bello, a Governor who appeared to be battling against low achievements in office during his first term that is about to come to an end. President Muhammadu Buhari was unable to attend the rally because he is on private visit to London at this time. Even Vice President Yemi Osinbajo did not attend the rally. At the same rally, the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai and the APC Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole knelt down on stage, beginning the people if Kogi State to forgive Bello for all his shortcomings in office. Political observers interpreted the on stage gestures as admittance of failure of governance by the incumbent Governor now seeking re-election.

Meanwhile, the popularity of Bello was put to test in Lokoja, the State capital yesterday when his motorcade meander it way through May the city. Cries of his disapproval overwhelmed any show of support for him. Like a twist of fate, the same Governor who was castigated for nonpayment of salaries and allowances of public servants in their State for several months was ‘clinically’ endorsed publicly for re-election by the State branches of the two foremost trade unions in the country— the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria.

Meanwhile a senatorial bye election will also be conducted in Kogi tomorrow. Recently, the election of Dino Melaye of the PDP was nullified by both the lower and appeal courts. Smart Adeyemi of APC had approached the electoral tribunal to challenge the victory of Melaye in the ground of forgery of election results.

Bayelsa State

In Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson is due to leave office soon. So INEC is poised to conduct a gubernatorial election in the State tomorrow Saturday, November 16, 2019. Like elsewhere in Nigeria, it will be a tussle between APC (David Lyon) and PDP (Senator Douye Diri) The State is currently under the control of PDP.

The first main feature of the Bayelsa election is that there are many aggrieved leaders of PDP that decided to leave the party on account of what they alleged to be the overbearing attitude of the outgoing Governor in the choice of PDP flag bearer. They felt that Dickson unduly influenced the party’s primary in favour of an aspirant that he preferred should succeed him.

The second feature of the election is the lack of enthusiasm of former President Goodluck Jonathan to back the PDP candidate in the election. He did not attend the party’s mega rally where the party’s candidate was officially presented to the electorate. Even the PDP Governor in neighbouring Rivers State, Nyesom Wike did not show up at the rally.

The rancour among PDP supporters in Bayelsa has led to fracas during which lives were reportedly lost.

Thirdly, there is no peace in the camp of APC too. There was lingering problem over the choice of running mate. A few days ago, a high court disqualified the running mate from being the running mate of the APC candidate in the election. Yesterday another high court said that APC has no candidate in tomorrow’s election in Bayelsa State. The PDP aspirant who filed the case in question, Heineken Lokpobiri had pleaded with the court to declare him the winner of the party’s primary. He has since cried out that he did not ask the court to rule on the integrity of the primary. It was not part of his prayers before the court that APC should be prevented from participating in the election. An appeal court in Abuja, the nation’s capital has however stopped the execution of the judgment of the lower court.

Respite came the way of APC when the electoral umpire, INEC in a statement on live television tonight said that all the political parties on the ballot being used for tomorrow’s election will remain as earlier scheduled. INEC added that it has so far not been served with a court order to drop any party from contesting the gubernatorial election.

The Issue of Security

There are widespread fears that the election in Kogi and Bayelsa States will be volatile. The Nigeria Police has said that officers and men of the force are ready to ensure that law and order are maintained before, during and after the elections in both States. Foreign and local observers are in the States to authenticate the conduct of the elections.