Controversies are trailing the moves by 17 outgoing governors to install their successors ahead of the governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Daily Trust reports.
Reports from the affected states revealed that the moves by the governors to force their anointed candidates on their parties have caused discontent in both APC and PDP in the states.
No fewer than 201 aspirants have picked the forms of the ruling party to contest its governorship primaries, which was yesterday rescheduled to Thursday, May 26.
For PDP, 145 contenders have purchased the forms to participate in the governorship primaries scheduled for Wednesday, May 25.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would conduct the governorship election in 2023 for 29 of the 36 states of the federation. The remaining seven states are now off-circle elections.
Cutting across the two parties, the governors, Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Emmanuel Udom (Akwa Ibom), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ben Ayade (Cross River), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa) and Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), have raised tension in their bids to clear the coast for the emergence of their preferred candidates as flag bearers of their parties.
Other second term governors enmeshed in the battle to install their successors include Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (Kano), Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto) and Darius Ishaku (Taraba).
Unlike the 17 governors, 11 governors who are in their first term including Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Babagana Zulum (Borno), Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq (Kwara), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) are scheming to retain their seats beyond May 29, 2023.
El-Rufai may have steered the hornet nest by his recent decision to endorse Senator Uba Sani (APC, Kaduna Central) as his preferred candidate for the state governorship election.
El-Rufai’s decision though not entirely surprising, came after other aspirants had expended resources to purchase the N50m governorship form in a bid to replace him at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House.
Pundits within the APC in Kaduna say though the governor was still in control of the party, his decision had caused some ripples.
A former member of the House of Representatives and gubernatorial aspirant of the APC, Alhaji Sani Mahmud Sha’aban, described the governor’s action as an abuse of democracy.
Sha’aban, whose son Turad is married to President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter, Hannan, said he was the first to purchase the form and expressed optimism that the president and the national leadership of the party will not accept dictatorship.
In Benue State, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Titus Uba, has been anointed by Governor Samuel Ortom to succeed him in office. It is believed that Uba was not the initial candidate of the governor, even though they had a cordial relationship.
Ortom was, however, said to have keyed into the idea of Uba allegedly sold to him by the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr Iyorchia Ayu and has since mandated his aides to queue behind his favoured candidate or be fired.
The preference for Uba has caused no small disaffection among other aspirants as well as some supporters of the PDP in the state.
It is a similar scenario in Akwa Ibom State as the PDP has been polarised over the governor’s decision to endorse Pastor Umo Eno as his successor.
Governor Udom Emmanuel said he chose Umo Eno as his successor on the conviction that he would continue with his developmental strides in the state, describing him as “A highly respected person with enormous capacity”.
However, other aspirants from Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District who the 2023 governorship zoning arrangement favour insisted that as bonafide members of the party, they have the right to vote and be voted for.
One of them, Senator Bassey Akpan, who is the Senate Committee Chairman on Petroleum (Upstream), has alleged that Governor Emmanuel had an unwritten arrangement to hand over power to him as governor in 2023.
The anointed candidate of Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State for 2023 elections is the Speaker of the state house of assembly, Francis Nwifuru.
However, the endorsement has caused a serious division not only between the blocks of old and new APC members in the state but among the Izzi clan where the speaker hails from.