As the results of the Presidential and National Assembly elections held last Saturday are being announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigerians are being treated to a gale of surprises from various parts of the country.
From Abia to Edo, Kwara to Yobe and Bornu States, there is no end to the surprises.
The massive victory recorded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, where Senate President Bukola Saraki of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) lost his return bid to the Senate, sources says, has sent shock waves into the minds of many observers, particularly those who are not from the state.
Ibrahim Oloriegbe, senatorial candidate of the APC, polled 123,808 votes to defeat Saraki, who got 68,994 votes.
Also in the presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC won the state, scoring 308,984 against Atiku Abubakar of PDP’s 138,184 votes.
The outcome of both elections came as a surprise to many political observers who had predicted PDP victory at all levels in the state.
Some, however, are not surprised following recent increasing resentment against Saraki’s dominance of the political scene in the state signposted by the recent local government election in the state where APC swept the votes.
“Many people in Kwara are becoming wiser. Unlike before when they asked no questions but just ‘follow follow’, today, they have woken up from the slumber and are reviewing their benefit of many years of loyalty to the Saraki family. If you visited Kwara during the campaigns, the serial defeat suffered by the PDP in the state would not have been surprising,” a source told our correspondent.
In Oyo State, Governor Abiola Ajimobi did not only lose his bid to go to the Senate, the APC also lost the presidential election there.
An analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there are many reasons why the APC lost in Oyo and may likely lose the governorship if care is not taken.
“One, Ajimobi tampered with the traditional institution in the state. During his faceoff with the Olubadan, the governor took some decisions that were considered abominable in the tradition of the people. To humiliate the Olubadan, he elevated some chiefs to the position of Oba. These Obas have no territory to preside over. The aim is to ensure that the people are no more submissive to the Olubadan. Now, the new Obas are saying, ‘We too are also Obas, so why must we respect the Olubadan?’,” the analyst said.
“Two, the governor also sees Ibadan as the beginning and end of Oyo State. Despite the number of universities and other institutions of higher learning in Ibadan, the state capital, he also sited the state university there. He did not consider it appropriate to site the institution somewhere else. So, the people said, ‘This man, we don’t want you again.’ They trooped out to vote and defended their votes,” he said.
Another great wonder of the 2019 presidential election is the victory of Atiku Abubakar in Edo State.
Edo State is controlled by the APC, governed by Godwin Obaseki. The national chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, also hails from the state.
Until the results began to pour in, not many Nigerians imagined that people would come out to vote in the insurgent-ravaged state of Borno. It was surprising to see huge figures up to 1 million as those who voted last Saturday in Borno. The same goes for Yobe, another north-east state where the activities of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, have sent many indigenes packing from their ancestral homes.
The figures from such states, according to observers, evoke “goose pimples”.
The paltry figure declared for Lagos State as the total votes cast from the humongous 5,531,385 declared as total number of permanent voter cards (PVCs) collected was also shocking. APC scored 580,814 against PDP’s 448,016.
In Ondo State, the result of the presidential election released by INECsaw the PDP winning 11 out of the 18 local government areas in the state.
The APC in Ondo State has been engulfed in internal crisis in recent times. The disagreement which erupted after the party primaries in the state last year led to divisions within the party, resulting in factions in the state chapter.
Since the acrimonious primaries, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has been in “cold war” with Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the party, and Oshiomhole, national chairman, after his preferred candidates were left in the cold in the selection process.
Speaking with journalists after casting his vote at Ijebu Owo, Owo Local Government Area, last Saturday, the governor said that the 2019 elections would have been an easy one for the party, but for the crisis which rocked the party after disagreements over the selection of candidates for the National Assembly elections.
“This election would have been a walk in the park for us. We would have just walked into victory. We are going to be victorious no doubt, but we had to put a lot of energy because of a lot of problems that came out of the primaries and I want to believe God that we have overcome those problems now, but we still have problems,” Akeredolu said.
Some of the APC members who felt aggrieved left the party. One of them, Tunji Abayomi, left the party to contest the senatorial election on the platform of the Action Alliance (AA).
The governor had been accused of anti-party activities by members of the APC for supporting the AA against the candidates of the APC in the National Assembly elections.
In Akwa Ibom State, not many Nigerians would have expected that the former Senate minority leader and senatorial candidate of the APC, Godswill Akpabio, would lose his re-election bid to the Senate.
Akpabio, a former governor of the state, had said he would win the election clear and square – for himself and for President Buhari.
But it turned out that he neither reclaimed his ticket to the National Assembly nor delivered the state to the President.
Chris Ekpenyong, a former deputy governor of the state and candidate of the PDP, polled 136,530, while Akpabio scored 67,487.
Akpabio is currently representing Akwa Ibom North in the Senate.
The victory of former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, in the National Assembly election is also one of the surprises.
Kalu, a chieftain of the APC, had contested for the Abia North Senatorial district position twice and lost to the incumbent, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa.
The result of the presidential election result in the state was also a surprise to many political observers, who had not expected President Buhari to score up to the 85,058 votes declared for him in a state that is traditionally PDP.
Zebulon Agomuo & Iniobong Iwok
