Yahaya Bello A few weeks ago, we projected how the November 11 Governorship elections would be contested and won in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi State; Mostly done on our social media platforms, only the Kogi State Governorship election was analyzed on this platform but the three off-cycle elections were projected to be won in the order they were decided on Saturday, November 11th, 2023.
In this article, we will flash back at how the elections were contested, lost, and won by the parties in the governorship elections which took place in Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa States.
Kogi State
Kogi State Governorship Election
Kogi elections were keenly contested by three major political parties and it was the most contested of the three off-cycle elections. This was the reason its analysis was specially treated on this platform before the election.
Ahmed Usman Ododo of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated the Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Murtala Ajaka, and Senator Dino Melaye who was the Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the off-cycle poll.
The election was virtually a repeat of a political tradition, though this needs to be normalized, where a senatorial district holds the state hostage producing the successive governors of the state until there is natural or special intervention.
Recall that the Igala people of the Kogin East Senatorial District where Murtala Ajaka hails from had produced successive governors of the state for four full tenures, from 1999 until 2015 when another Igala person, Abubakar Audu died at the wee-hours of normalizing his victory in the state’s guber poll. The natural intervention paved the way for the shifting of power for the first time from the Igala people of the Kogi East to the Ebira people of the Kogi Central senatorial district from where outgoing Governor Yahaya Bello hails.
Since the day Governor Yahaya Bello stood against the Governorship ambition of Murtala Ajaka in favor of his kinsman, Ahmed Usman Ododo, it was glare that the victory might be hard-earned but it would be for Ahmed Usman Ododo of the APC.
Even though there was insinuation that Murtala Ajaka had the backing of some minority within the Aso Rock, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not joke with his support for Yahaya Bello to produce the successor nominated and endorsed by him.
With this respect, and coupled with the fact that the choice of Dino Melaye by the people was considerably more a comic affair than political, Governor Yahaya Bello enjoyed the full support of the necessary political pieces of machinery needed to deliver Kogi State Governorship election for APC.
Murtala Ajaka of the SDP lacked full access to enough political pieces of machinery needed to ensure his victory, and he could be considered to have earned more votes from the ethnic ground than his capacity at the poll. However, APC with its widespread popularity in the state and the presence of individuals from all the senatorial districts, Local Government Areas, and Wards in the state, was able to pocket the chances of Ajaka to pose a threat.
Although it might sound unfair to dump discussion on Dino Melaye he doesn’t deserve the attention because if you do a flashback at his campaign during the governorship election, accordingly, he described his governorship ambition as jovial as it was!
Of all people, why Dino Melaye? The same Dino Melaye who threatened to beat a woman and Wife of the incumbent President of the country? The same Dino Melaye who flashed sons and daughters of poor citizens with his garage of exotic cars, presidential palace, and expensive lifestyle of his kids living abroad; the same Dino Melaye with no clearcut source of income than government. The same Dino Melaye who has run a series of abusive serene on the people of President Bola Tinubu, Muhammadu Buhari, Bukola Saraki, and a couple of other political bigwigs in the country?
PDP was either unserious with the Kogi State Governorship election or it attempted the likes of what the party did to the people of Osun State, presenting a candidate with nothing to offer and banked on his jovial behavior to become the governor of the state. Unfortunately, PDP had forgotten that the candidate presented in Osun State had a very strong financial backup, enjoyed the support of a faction of APC both at the state and Federal Level, and went to the poll against a Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, who was attacked severally and failed to use his constituted authority to waive the red flag as Governor Yahaya Bello did when they attempted the same a few months to the election.
APC did not just win the Kogi State Governorship election, it went to the election with unmatched political strength, and unfortunately against very weak opposition.
Imo State
Imo State Governorship Election
Imo State was adjudged the easiest state to be won by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and it has not only done that but the election was won like it was never contested.
The insecurity situation of the state, the inexperience political behaviors of the Labour Party, and an anticipated elimination of the best candidate of the PDP in the state, probably, by his political opponents within the same party long before the election, and unfiltered support enjoyed by Governor Hope Uzodinma from both the Federal Government and political stalwarts in the state were the reasons that influenced the projection that the state would be won by APC despite the hatred the party suffer from the Southeast geopolitical zone.
Unfortunately, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chukwuma Emeka Ihedioha, has long been muscled out of the 2023 Governorship race in the state right from the party level. He was eased out strategically and don’t be surprised if he eventually sold through his ordeal in the United Kingdom, anytime from now.
Samuel Anyanwu, the PDP Governorship candidate in Imo State ran a one-man show during the electioneering campaign following the ways he emerged as the candidate of the party while Labour Party’s Governorship candidate, Athan Achonu was more a glorified councillorship aspirant than a governorship candidate in the poll.
The moment you see political stalwarts including Professor Maurice Iwu and HRH Eze Cletus Ilomuayan who was the Chairman of the Imo State Council of Elders speaking with a tone, you should have known that the election in Imo State has been settled for continuity.
The re-election of Hope Uzodinma could be described as the best political decision taken by anyone in the Southeast since 1999. This may be entertained in a separate discussion, probably, shortly.
Bayelsa State
Bayelsa State Governorship Election
Bayelsa's Election was influenced by so many factors, and it would have taken a miraculous approach and betrayal for APC to have won the state.
Governor Duoye Diri was initially picked against the interest of former President Goodluck Jonathan but Diri was strategic in managing the crisis that greeted his emergence and miraculous ways he followed to the governorship seat of the state. Recall that he lost the 2019 Governorship election in Bayelsa State but was declared winner of the poll a few hours before the inauguration of the APC candidate in the election, David Lyon.
Bayelsa Election was contested like it was never contested because the best candidate of the party, David Lyon was eased out of the contest; PDP-backed APC aspirant, Timipre Sylva was announced by the former leadership of APC in the country and the election was more or less a PDP candidate against annex candidate of PDP in APC.
Besides, Governor Duoye Diri was in good tandem with former President Jonathan whose influence in the state could not be underrated; he was also annexing through the former G-5 PDP Governors to have his way through at the Federal Level.
Bayelsa State Governorship election was more a governorship contested between PDP and its annex; whoever won the election would have still been a victory for PDP, anyway!
Category: World-News
Tag: Imo State Usman Ododo Hope Uzodinma News TODAY
Written by Omooba Alekuwodo (omoobaalekuwodo)
Published 11/15/2023 12:33:42 PM