- 18 parties eye 5 Senate, 31 Reps, 57 state assembly seats
- Sokoto Remains Our Fortress – PDP Boasts
The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are set for epic battles today as they go for broke in the supplementary governorship elections slated for Adamawa and Kebbi states.
Interestingly, there are different scenarios playing out as the electorate goes to the polls with the PDP setting the pace in Adamawa, while the APC leads the pack in Kebbi following the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s declaration of the March 18 gubernatorial elections in both states inconclusive.
For the Adamawa combatants, the candidate of the PDP, Governor Umaru Fintiri has a lead over his APC opponent, Aishatu ‘Binani’ Dahiru, after the results were announced from 20 of the 21 local government areas in the State.
According to INEC’s announcement, Governor Fintiri amassed a total of 401,113 votes on March 18 as against Binani’s 365,498 votes, leaving a difference of about 35,000 votes between them.
By that outcome, INEC said the supplementary poll will come up in 142 polling units that have 96,319 registered voters with the figure of collected PVCs put at 94,209 registrants.
Reports said both camps are upbeat and confident they would emerge successful at the polls, even as the APC maintains that Aishatu Dahiru is set to become the first elected female State governor in Nigeria given high expectations of her pulling out enough votes from Fufore Local Government Area to upset Fintiri who is currently leading the pack.
In Kebbi State, INEC explained that the governorship election was inconclusive due to the cancellation of results in 69 polling units across 20 of the 21 local government areas, even as collated results indicated that the APC governorship candidate got 388,258 votes as against the 342,980 votes amassed by his PDP counterpart.
With a difference of 45,278 votes between both parties and the number of collected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) at 91,829, the electoral umpire said an outright winner could not be announced hence the decision to conduct the re-run election.
Senatorial Contests Hold In Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara
However, besides the two gubernatorial elections that are expected to be highly competitive, other elections scheduled for today include Senatorial contests coming up in the three North-west states of Sokoto, Kebbi, and Zamfara.
In Sokoto, supplementary elections are to hold for all three senatorial seats, Sokoto North, Sokoto East, and Sokoto South, where elections were earlier declared inconclusive. Elections will be held in 389 polling units across all 23 local government areas of the state. By INEC’s figures, there are 227,743 eligible voters likely to cast their ballots in the polls.
In Kebbi and Zamfara, the election will only hold in one senatorial district each – Kebbi North and Zamfara Central. While Kebbi North senatorial district poll will take place in 23 Polling Units, the Zamfara Central senatorial election will have voters in 83 Polling Units coming out to exercise their franchise. Both districts have 13,243 and 47,277 eligible voters respectively.
House of Representatives
For the supplementary elections in the House of Representatives, there are 31 constituencies in 15 states. These are; Akwa Ibom (2), Anambra (1), Bayelsa (1), Ebonyi (1), Edo (1), Imo (1), and Jigawa (1). Others are Kano (2), Kebbi (2), Kogi (1), Oyo (2), Rivers (2), Sokoto (11), Taraba (1), and Zamfara (2).
State Houses of Assembly
For the states’ House of Assembly seats, elections will take place in 57 constituencies across 17 states of the Federation. These are Adamawa (4), Akwa Ibom (1), Bayelsa (1), Ebonyi (5), Edo (3), Ekiti (1), and Enugu (1).
Others include Imo (1), Jigawa (3), Kaduna (5), Kano (14), Katsina (3), Kebbi (8), Niger (4), Ogun (1), Taraba (1), and Yobe (1).
Sokoto Remains Our Fortress – PDP Boasts
With the big day now at hand, the Sokoto State chapter of the PDP has boasted that the State remains strongly its fortress and the opposition APC should forget its dream of causing any upset in the seat of the Caliphate.
Clearly amplifying its preparedness for today’s proceedings, the Party’s Publicity Secretary, Hassan Sahabi Sanyinnawal, said there is no stopping the PDP from winning all the Senatorial and National Assembly seats in the State.
The Party, in urging voters to come out en masse for the election, challenged the security agencies to create a conducive environment for the proceedings to take place by providing adequate security at all polling units to ensure violence-free polls.
However, Sanyinnawal charged all political actors, INEC officials, and the general public to ensure that the re-run polls are free, fair, and devoid of political thuggery.
