Not less than 18 candidates cleared by INEC will contest the governorship election in Kogi, 17 in Imo and 16 in Bayelsa.
Since the return of democracy in 1999, several elections have been conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission , though not without reservations, hues and cries by political actors, analysts and watchers.
As usual, the political space in these states is replete with threats, violence and uncertainties about what the elections may turn out to be on Saturday. “The level of security deployment for this election has given many people hope that votes will surely count,” Mr Olaniyi, also the Lagos State chairman of SDP, said.
On INEC’s preparations, Mr Olaniyi said if the promises and pledges of the commission’s Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, were to be believed, there wouldn’t be any hitches and votes would count. “In Kogi, we are hoping that the will of the people will overpower all tendencies to rig elections,” Mr Pearse said.
The entire Kogi has an estimated population of 4.5 million with Igala constituting roughly half of that figure. Mr Bello’s track record and performance, being used for the campaign, according to him, is a strong selling point for the ruling party to retain the state. “Bayelsa has a governor who has evidently performed well and enjoys popularity, and there has not been a lot of violence there. PDP’s candidate appears to be in good stead there,” the analyst said.
Campaigns have been characterised by violence in some places, hence INEC and other stakeholders have been calling for calm and violence-free elections. One such case was the gruesome murder of the PDP women leader of the Wada/Aro campaign council, Ochadamu Ward, Acheju Abuh, who was burnt alive in her home by suspected political thugs.
Reportedly, trouble started when some thugs allegedly operating under the guise of the state Joint Taskforce attacked the residence of the Campaign Director General of SDP, Sheikh Ibrahim, in the early hours of Tuesday, leading to the alleged killing of some police officers and abduction of six SDP members.
Imo is another hotbed of agitation, where there seems to be no end to killings since the assumption of office by Governor Hope Uzodinma. Tension mounted in the state a few days ago when a court disqualified Mr Sylva, with the subsequent removal of the APC candidate from the list of contestants by INEC.The CDD report said although there was no record of death in Bayelsa in the 2019 governorship election, observers said over 50 critical incidents, which directly impacted the credibility of the election were observed.
“Our commitment is to protect the integrity of the process so that whoever the people vote for becomes their governor,” the INEC boss stated. Mr Alli advised eligible voters not to allow themselves to be used by desperate politicians for electoral manipulations because such manipulations could disrupt the entire electoral process.
“In Bayelsa and Kogi and Imo, elections will take place, I want to say with confidence that the police and other security agencies have taken a position to be neutral.
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