Political Parties have concluded their primaries and they have elected candidates for the governorship elections in the three Nigerian states of Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa on November 11, 2023.
With the emergence of the political parties’ candidates, the battle for the soul of the three states has begun in earnest.
As expected, there are complaints from the aggrieved aspirants of the various parties in the primary elections and most of them have filed their grievances before the Primary Appeal Committee.
However, the parties must follow the time – table set by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) and they are striving ahead to meet the deadline for the submission of candidate names.
According to the INEC Time Table, the online portal for the submission of nomination forms (EC9 and EC9B) by political parties opens at 9.00am on April 24, 2023 and closes at 6.00pm on May 5, 2023.
The final list of candidates will be published on June 9, 2023 while campaign by political parties commences on June 14, 2023 and ends at midnight on November 9, 2023.
One state where the primary of the APC is hotly disputed is Kogi State.
Four governorship aspirants of the APC in the just-concluded gubernatorial primary election in Kogi State, have declared that the exercise did not hold, saying that the results announced by Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon was just allocated.
According to the aspirants, none of them voted in the said primary election, adding that there was no electoral official in their local government areas.
They called on President Muhammadu Buhari, President- Elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu not to accept the result of the Kogi State primary election.
The aspirants were Senator Smart Adeyemi; Murtala Yakubu Ajaka; Steven Ocheni and Shuaibu Abubakar Audu.
It would be recalled that the Secretary of the Kogi State Primary Election Committee, Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon, had at the State Secretariat of APC in Lokoja announced Ahmed Usman Ododo as the winner of the APC governorship primary election.
He said the total number of registered voters was 93,729 while 83,419 were numbers of accredited voters.
Obahiagbon said Shaibu Abubakar Audu scored 763 votes; Stephen Ikani Ocheni polled 552 votes, the former Executive Director of Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Dr Sanusi Ohiare, scored 424 votes while Smart Adeyemi, the incumbent Senator representing Kogi West, scored the least number of votes – 311.
The Secretary of the committee said Abubakar Yahaya Achimugu polled 1,159 votes, Salami Momodu Ozigi scored 1,506 votes and Ahmed Usman Ododo polled the highest number votes – 78,704 – and was consequently declared winner of the primary election.
But, reacting to the exercise at a joint press conference in Abuja, the aggrieved four aspirants said the results announced were manufactured, adding that they couldn’t even vote in the said, primary election since electoral officials were not on ground.
They warned that if the APC National Working Committee (NWC) accepted such a result and the candidate, the party would lose in the forthcoming November, 2023 gubernatorial election.
According to Senator Adeyemi, “What happened is like having a bad military government. Nobody is a slave. Nobody is conquered. The argument that the East did 16 years ago is not an issue.”
He added that even the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) could not supervise the primary election.
“INEC did not show up in the election. Even security agents can attest to the fact that the election did not hold.
“The man they said they nominated cannot win the election. If there is need eventually, we will go to court. But the National Working Committee will not allow that to degenerate”, he said.
The Race – Bayelsa State (Diri versus Sylva)
While the Imo State is going to be a three-horse race between the candidates of the Labour Party, ( LP), the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party, ( PDP), the contest in Kogi and Bayelsa will be a two – horse race between the candidates of the APC and the ruling PDP.
Timpire Sylva (APC)
Timipire Marlin Sylva was born on July 7, 1964. He is a former Governor of Bayelsa State and the current Nigeria Minister of State for Petroleum
Sylva was born in Brass, Bayelsa. He got part of his education in Bayelsa and Lagos. He was a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly in the 1990s.
Sylva graduated from the University of Port Harcourt with distinction in English (Linguistics) in 1986.
Sylva was awarded his second Doctorate (Honoris Causa) in Public Administration on the 2nd of December 2020 by AiPA (African Institute of Public Administration), Leading Edge Foundation and LBBS.
Sylva’s political career started in 1992 when he won a seat in the House of Assembly Election representing Brass Constituency in old Rivers State.
His political career continued when he was appointed as the Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Petrolatum in 2004 under the auspices of Dr Edmond Daokoru.
He continued in that position until he resigned to join the PDP gubernatorial primaries in 2006 in Bayelsa State, in which he placed, second behind Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. After the PDP presidential primaries election and Dr. Jonathan was appointed as a running mate to Umaru Yar’Adua of blessed memory, the gubernatorial candidacy for PDP became vacant, and conventional wisdom took the better of the political actors and Sylva was elevated to occupy the position of PDP gubernatorial candidate.
As a candidate of the PDP, Sylva won the 2007 Bayelsa State Governorship election and succeeded Jonathan who went on to the position of Vice President.
Until his election as APC Candidate, he was the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.
Douye Diri
Douye Diri was born on June 4, 1959. He represented Bayelsa Central senatorial district of Bayelsa state at the 9th National Assembly.
Diri began his early education at Okoro Primary School, Sampou and concluded it at Rev. Proctor Memorial Primary School, Kaiama in 1977, where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate.
He later attended Government Secondary School, Odi in Bayelsa. Douye studied at the College of Education, Port-Harcourt, Rivers State where he obtained a National Certificate in Education (NCE) in 1985. He also attended the University of Port-Harcourt, obtaining Bachelors of Education (B. Ed) Degree in Political Science in 1990.
On February 13, 2020, the Supreme Court invalidated the results of the 2019 gubernatorial elections on grounds that the running mate of the actual winner of the election, David Lyon, submitted a controversial certificate to the INEC. The court ordered Diri to be issued a certificate of return, which would make him governor- elect.
On February 14, 2020, he was sworn-in as the governor of Bayelsa State.
He is contesting the November 2023 election to secure a second term in office.
Kogi – Melaye versus Ododo
Usman Ododo (APC)
Ahmed Usman Ododo was the Auditor General for Local Government in Kogi State.
He was born in the 1960s and is an Ebira man who hails from Okene in Kogi state.
Ahmed Usman Ododo previously served as the head of Kogi State Internal Revenue Service under the administration of Governor Yahaya Bello. He has been actively engaged in the politics of Kogi State and has been a vocal advocate for the development of the state.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Lagos and he is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) .
What may work against Ododo in the next election is that he is coming from the same senatorial District with the incumbent governor, Yahaya Bello, who has spent eight years in office. Many Kogi people are agitating that Kogi West should produce the next governor of the state.
Dino Melaye (PDP)
Dino Melaye was born on January 7, 1974. He is a former senator and was a member of the Eight National Assembly representing Kogi West Senatorial District. He is from Ayetoro Gbede in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Dino Melaye is a former member of the House of Representatives In 2015 he defected to APC), but returned to PDP in the buildup to the 2019 elections after months of political struggle with Kogi State governor.
He was the Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT and briefly the Senate Committee Chairman on Aviation in Nigeria. He was the spokesperson of 2023 Presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar.
Melaye may receive the support of Kogi West people where he hails from because his election will satisfy the yearning of the people of the district to produce the next governor.
Imo – Uzondima versus Samuel Anyanwu, Athan Achonu
Hope Uzondima
Hope Odidika Uzodimma was born on December12, 1958. In January 2020, the Supreme Court declared him the winner of the governorship poll in Imo State on the platform of the APC and nullified the election of the then-incumbent Governor Emeka Ihedioha.
In 1999, after Nigeria’s return to democracy after a spell of military rule, Uzodimma joined the PDP, where he served as a member of the party’s National Caucus, National Executive Committee and on the Board of Trustees at various times between 1999 and 2017.
As a party boss in Imo State, he was a close associate of the Governor Achike Udenwa until late 2002, when ahead of the April 2003 election he defected to the Alliance for Democracy (AD), becoming the party’s candidate in the Imo State governorship election. After losing the election to Udenwa, he returned to the PDP in February 2004. He later contested the PDP governorship primaries in December 2006, coming second to Senator Ifeanyi Ararume In 2011, after the incumbent Governor Ikedi Ohakim joined the PDP, Uzodimma endorsed him to run for a second term as Governor of Imo State, favouring him over Rochas Okorocha who he later defeated.
In January 2011, Uzodimma won the PDP senatorial primary for Imo West, winning 2,147 votes, while the incumbent Senator Osita Izunaso came second with 891 votes. Uzodimma was later disqualified by a Federal High court judgment as he had not been cleared by the PDP electoral panel led by Nwafor-Orizu. In March 2011, a court of appeal issued a stay of execution while the case was being decided, leaving Uzodimma free to campaign.
On May 29, 2011, Uzodimma was sworn in as Senator of the (West Senatorial District). He was re-elected for a second term in the Senate during the 2015 general election. In 2018, he left the Peoples Democratic Party and joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in order to join the governorship race in Imo.
Samuel Anyanwu (PDP)
Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu was born on June18, 1965. He had represented the Imo East constituency in the Eight Senate. He declared to run for governor in the 2019 general election but lost to Emeka Ihedioha in the party primaries. He is the National Secretary of the PDP.
Anyanwu received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Port Harcourt in 2001.
Anyanwu was chairman of Ikeduru Local Government Area of mo State from 2004 to 2007 and was a member of the Imo State House of Assembly from 2007 to 2015. In the Senate he was a member of the committees on Ethics, Privileges and Public Positions and Customs, Excise, and Tariff.
Athan Achonu (LP)
Chief Athan Nneji Achonu was a one time Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and represented Imo North at the Federal House. He was born on May 31, 1959 and hails from the Okigwe extraction of Imo State, Nigeria.
Athanasius Achonu is 63 years-old. He had his early education at Madonna High School Etiti in Imo State, Government College Umuahia in Abia State and then proceeded to John Cabot University, Rome, Italy.
Achonu is popularly known as the one-armed General. He is a renowned agronomist. He is an astute businessman who has over the years recorded giant achievements in the business world.
In 2015, Chief Athan Nneji Achonu contested for the Imo South Senatorial seat and was declared winner on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party. However, in December 2015, the Appeal Court sitting in Owerri, Imo State capital upturned his election at the instance of the candidate of the Accord Party that Athan’s party’s logo was not included in the ballot papers used for the 2015 National Assembly election. The candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Benjamin Uwajumogu was then declared the winner of the polls.
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
