The March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections have produced some casualties in the polity, Felix NWANERI, TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE AND WALE ELEGBEDE report
How are the mighty fallen! That is the question on the lips of most political analysts and observers across the country, following the loss, by most chieftains of the leading parties – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) in their various polling units, wards, local governments and states in the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections.
They include Governors Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); James Ngilari (Adamawa), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos); Usman Dakigari (Kebbi) and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo); former Ogun State governor, Olusegun Osoba; Senators Chris Ngige, Smart Adeyemi and Gbenga Kaka.
Others are former PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur; National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh; member of PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Bode Olajumoke; former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and PDP governorship candidate for Adamawa, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
The list also included former Oyo State governor, Rashidi Ladoja; former Enugu State governor, Chimaraoke Nnamani; Senator Ahmad Maccido and Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Hon. Mulikat Adeola-Akande.
The party bigwigs had during the campaigns boasted that they will turn the table against opposing parties, but in a twist of fate, some were not only defeated in their respective strongholds but with margins confirming pre-election position that the so-called political heavyweights have outlived their relevance.
Niger gov, Aliyu, humiliated
The APC humiliated the governor of Niger State, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, as he was roundly defeated in the senatorial election conducted on Saturday.
In the result, the APC candidate, Barrister David Umaru, trounced Governor Aliyu for the Niger East Senatorial District seat with a wide margin. Umaru got 257,831 votes against the governor’s 82,094.
Umeh, Ngige crash out
The hope of the National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, to be a senator has been truncated. Umeh was defeated by a member of the House of Representatives, Uche Ekwunife, in the race for the Anambra Central Senatorial District.
Former governor of the state and the incumbent Senator, Dr. Chris Ngige, also suffered the same fate. Ekwunife polled 101,548 votes to beat Umeh who secured 77,129 votes. Ngige merely secured 20,850 votes.
Kure’s loss
Chairman, Senate Committee on Maritime Transport, Senator Zaynab Kure also lost her bid for a third term representation for Niger South Senatorial District.
The wife of the former governor was defeated by the APC candidate, Gen. Mohammed Garba (rtd), who polled 164,250 votes against Kure’s 64,107.
Katsina’s casualties
The Deputy Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Abdullahi Faskari of PDP had his senatorial ambition dashed. In the race for the Katsina South, Faskari was defeated by the Senate Minority Whip, Senator Abu Ibrahim, who polled 409, 642 against the deputy governor’s 100,364 votes.
The hope of the Speaker, Katsina State House of Assembly, Alhaji Ya’u Gwajo-Gwajo, to take his legislative assignment to Abuja also met a brick wall. In the contest for the Katsina North Senatorial District, the APC candidate, Alhaji Mustapha Bukar scored 308,041 votes, to emerge winner while Gwajo-Gwajo polled 102,892 votes.
Sule Lamido kisses dust
Despite being the North-West Coordinator of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State failed to deliver his state for President Jonathan.
Buhari secured 885,988 votes while Jonathan’s PDP scored 142,897 votes. Aside failing to deliver the state for the PDP in the presidential election, Governor Jigawa failed to win the National Assembly seats for the PDP. Even in Lamido’s polling unit, Buhari polled 1,000 votes against Jonathan’s 36 votes.
Mimiko fails to deliver Jonathan
Even with his positions as South-West Coordinator of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State failed to deliver his state to President Jonathan. APC won with 299,889 votes while PDP got 251,368 votes.
Not only did Mimiko lose his state to the APC, he also lost woefully in his local government. Apart from PDP losing the presidential election, he also lost two senatorial and some House of Representatives seats to opposition in the state. Prior to the election, Governor Mimiko has been the link between President Jonathan and the Yoruba leaders.
He organised several seminars and summits to drum supports for the president. But despite all the huge resources the presidency allocated to his office as the South-West cordinator, Mimiko failed to deliver South- West to PDP. The governor failed to live up to expectations.
Kogi senators – Adeyemi, Ali, out
Last Saturday was a bad day for two incumbent senators in Kogi State. Senators Smart Adeyemi and Atari Aidoko Ali, who ran on the platform of the PDP lost their seats to APC candidates. Adeyemi, a former President of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) lost in Kogi West Senatorial District with 38,148 votes to a former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye, who had 41,120.
Senator Ali who was defeated by Alhaji Abubakar Abdulrahaman in Kogi East Senatorial District, scored 88,994 votes while his opponent polled 98,915 votes.
Olajumoke fails second time
Since Senator Bode Olajumoke left the Senate in 2011 after losing the seat to the incumbent, Senator Ajayi Boroffice, his bid to return to the Red Chamber has not seen the light again.
He lost re-election in 2011 and also lost during last Saturday National Assembly election in Ondo North Senatorial District.
Olajumoke, a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP, was first elected to represent Ondo North Senatorial District in the Senate in 2003, re-elected in 2007 and lost to Labour Party candidate, Senator Boroffice in 2011.
Kaka loses to Kashamu
Senator Gbenga Kaka, who ran on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), lost last Saturday National Assembly election in Ogun East Senatorial District. He lost to the PDP candidate, Buruji Kashamu.
This is the second time that Kaka, a former deputy governor of Ogun State will be losing in general elections in the state under a new party.
He lost 2007 governorship election on the platform of Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA) and also lost re-election last Saturday.
Fashola lost LGA
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State could not deliver his council, Surulere Local Government Area to APC.
In Surulere, PDP won the presidential election with 58,649 votes against APC’s 52,798 votes. The opposition party also won a House of Representatives seat in Surulere II Federal Constituency.
Ribadu thrashed in stronghold
The former anti-graft czar contested the 2011 presidential election on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and was one of the founding members of the APC, but defected to the PDP recently to contest the Adamawa governorship by-election.
Ribadu was said to have been under pressure from the national leadership of the ruling party and the Presidency to defect and contest the governorship election, but justified his defection saying the APC was not better than the PDP in terms of the character of the people who constituted both parties.
The PDP governorship hopeful, like many other political heavyweights, was thrashed in his stronghold last weekend. His party lost in his Yola South Local Government Area by 24,483 to 17, 789 votes.
Bamanga Tukur/Hassan Adamu trounced
Former PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, is another heavy loser in the presidential poll. Tukur resigned as national chairman after a protracted battle for the soul of the party between him and some of the party’s governors.
The wrangling was responsible for the defection of five out of the seven aggrieved governors of the PDP otherwise known as G7 to the APC. Tukur was accused of high handedness and all efforts by President Jonathan to have him retain the PDP’s topmost position failed.
Though he remained in the party despite the way he was booted out of office, the APC trounced him in Yola North council. President Jonathan’s link man in the state, Dr. Hassan Adamu (Wakilin Adamawa) also hails from the area. The APC polled 47, 139 against PDP’s 13, 790 votes to defeat both men in the presidential poll.
Dakingari, Yuguda’s failed bid
The bid by the Kebbi State governor, Usman Dakingari, to join the league of outgoing governors heading to the Senate was stopped by Dr. Yahayah Abdulahi Arugungu of APC, who scored 139,179 against the governor’s 70,148.
Dakingari, who was first elected governor in 2007 and got re-elected in 2011, had hoped to represent Kebbi North Senatorial District in the next dispensation on the PDP platform. Also, Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi lost his senatorial bid.
Osoba humbled in Ogun
When a former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, dumped the APC for the SDP, it was assumed that if anything, the three senators and six House of Representatives members that were on the SDP voyage with him would secure their seats again.
Alas, the gamble went sour and the SDP was beaten pant down in last Saturday’s election. Out of the nine House of Representatives seats and three senatorial seats the party vied for, it came out with nothing as it lost across the state. For political pundits, the experience is humbling, given the preelection hype that has trailed the campaigns of Osoba’s SDP that the party is the new bride of Ogun State.
Though the SDP adopted Jonathan as its presidential candidate, it is doubtful if the party contributed much to the 207, 950 votes garnered by the president in the state. With governorship election coming up in a fortnight, pundits are already predicting a working relationship between SDP and PDP to ensure that the APC is pushed out of the race and save the face of Osoba. But as it stand, the godfather of SDP is not having it rosy in his latest political adventure.
Senator Maccido loses to Wamakko
The hope of Senator Ahmad Maccido to return to the Senate for third consecutive time was dashed last weekend. The senator who ran on the platform of the PDP lost his seat to Sokoto State governor, Aliyu Wamakko. Senator Maccido, the son of the late Sultan Muhammadu Maccido, was elected to represent Sokoto North Senatorial District in 2007 and re-elected in 2011.
But his hope of returning to the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly was dashed by Governor Wamakko, the APC candidate. Senator Suleiman Asonya Adokwe, representing Nasarawa South Senatorial District, was also defeated.
Ladoja’s Accord Party failed in Oyo
Unlike 2011 when former Oyo State governor, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, emerged as a bride in Oyo State politics by winning some House of Representatives and House of Assembly seats for his party, Accord Party; he failed to deliver in last Saturday’s elections.
Prior to last weekend’s National Assembly election in Oyo State, many people had expected that Ladoja will repeat the 2011 magic, but the former governor’s party failed woefully in the election. Despite his acclaimed popularity in the state, Ladoja was unable to win a single House of Representatives seat, talk less of winning a senatorial seat.
Adeola-Akande can’t be Speaker
The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Mulikat Adeola-Akande’s hope of becoming Speaker when new elected members resume in June was dashed last Saturday. She lost to Labour Party’s candidate, Segun Ogunwuyi in the House of Representatives election in Ogbomosho North, South/Orire Federal Constituency.
Adeola-Akande while obtaining her nomination form at the PDP national secretariat last year said she wanted to become Speaker, having failed to get the position in a keen contest with the incumbent Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, at the inception of the House in 2011.
Without any iota of doubt, Akande-Adeola’s dream of becoming the second female Speaker of the Green Chamber has hit the rocks.
Nnamani fails a second time
Former Enugu State governor, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani lost for a second time, his ambition to represent Enugu East Senatorial Zone. Nnanami, who contested the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Congress (PDC) lost to the candidate of the PDP, Senator Gilbert Nnaji.
The former governor contested the same position in 2011 but was defeated. He has already protested the outcome of the poll, saying he was rigged out. He alleged that there were no elections in the whole of Enugu East Senatorial Zone.
Ngilari lost in Adamawa
The governor of Adamawa State, Mr. James Ngilari’s hope of being a Senator was dashed at the weekend. Ngilari contested for Adamawa North Senatorial District on the platform of the PDP and lost to the APC candidate, Binta Garba.