By Eric Elezuo

As Nigerians march to various polling units across the 36 states of the federation to elect 28 governors out of 837 candidates and 993 House of Assembly members out of 10,240 candidates, a special prayer for a smooth electoral process devoid of what was obtainable on February 23, 2023 when the presidential and National Assembly elections were held has been canvassed.

It is on record that the February 23 elections were marred by violence, none transmission of results electronically, harassment and intimidation of voters not loyal to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) by thugs allegedly loyal to the APC and flagrant distortion of election results. While some governments have congratulated the announced winner of the presidential election, most international bodies including The Financial Times, New York Times, The Economist and many others have condemned the election and the emergence of the APC candidate, Bola Tinubu, saying everything was heavily flawed. Presently, the matter is in court as two presidential candidates; Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who felt aggrieved are seeking redress from the judiciary.

But with the way things turned out during the previous election, regarding how the emergence of the Labour Party and Peter Obi proved to be a game changer, and practically retired some old politicians as well as swept votes in places considered strongholds of some politically godfathers, governors who are seeking reelection have become jittery as fear of the Labour Party sunami has created a new chapter in the political equilibrium.

In the 28 states where governorship elections will be held, 10 are seeking reelection. They are Babagana Zulum of Borno State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Abdulraman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State, Mohammed Bala of Bauchi State, Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State, Muhammad Inuwa of Gombe State and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State.

Most of the governors listed above did not perform in delivering their states to their presidential candidates, and as a result, have come under intense tension as to what may go down at the polling units with special regards to their quest to return to their various government houses for another four years. Consequently, supporters of some governors and political parties resolved to attacks of supporters of other political parties either physically or emotionally.

In Lagos where Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is having a running battle with the candidate of the Labour Party, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and to some extent the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olajide Adediran, situation has degenerated to ethnic attacks, with the indigenes throwing tantrums at the Igbo for supporting the LP, and by extension Rhodes-Vivour. The Yoruba has insisted that the candidacy of Rhodes-Vivour has been rejected because he was born of Igbo-mother. Consequently, many Yoruba have cast aspersions at his candidacy, saying he was Igbo, and Lagos was not going to hand over their affairs to a ‘foreigner’. These notion, which has not only been perpetrated by the ordinary man, but by supposedly high placed citizens including Femi Fani-Kayode, who also almost in his characteristic stride, set up a conflict between the Igbo and Yoruba, with a damning article, “The Truth About the Igbos”, and the many others, has created skirmishes against the Igbo in Lagos. the thugs, who were well on ground during the presidential election, have also returned with threats of dealing with any Igbo voting against the APC.

In a viral video, a known thug, Musiliu Akinsanya, known by his nickname, MC Oluomo, was seen threatening the people of the Southeast not to risk coming out to vote if they are voting against the APC.

“We have begged them. If they don’t want to vote for us, it is not a fight. Tell them, mama Chukwudi, if you don’t want to vote for us, sit down at home. Sit down at home,” he said.

But the Police, speaking through the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said Oluomo was joking when he made the utterance. As a result, he was not even as much as invited to explain his position or why he made such a costly joke.

“So, let us take it for a joke like he has said. But nobody has the right to tell Nigerians not to come out and vote. It is not allowed. It is not possible; not proper. But he has come out to debunk that it is not true. So, let us leave it that way – that it is not true and a joke within one or two persons in that area at that particular point in time. Even the CP of Lagos was on a television programme this afternoon to address that if it is true, they are investigating that matter,” Adejobi said during a live TV show.

But one thing was sure, the threat of losing his position because of the overwhelming support the LP was receiving in Lagos, Sanwo-Olu became more visible in campaigns, and became to appear on TV interviews which he had hitherto shunned and became more accessible to Lagosians, who agreed that he had been faraway from the people in the last four years. He had paid pension, increased salaries of civil servants, released seized property among other people oriented actions he was wont to have taken long before now.

Another angle the Yoruba elites have stooped low to attack Igbo is in the area of unconfirmed notion of Igbo saying Lagos was ‘no man’s land’. So far, not one of the speakers, or writers, who made the assertion has quoted a source where the statement came from, prompting observers to conclude that the mindless attacks were products of hatred against the Igbo race. It has also been noised that the Igbo wanted to conquer Lagos through electing Rhodes-Vivour, who also is a Yoruba man.

“That is one of the most laughable part of this whole scenario. How can the election of a young Yoruba man means conquering Lagos. Isn’t it the more reason people should see there’s no credence in the entire setting. The Yorubas have, because of hatred forgotten that everyone wants the stranglehold of Bola Tinubu for over 24 years in Lagos to end. Yet, even those that are supposedly in the know have turned around to weave a tale of Igbo aiming to take over Lagos because Gbadebo is contesting against Tinubu’s candidate,” a prominent Lagos indigene, who craved anonymity said.

What is more worrisome, a cross section of Lagos residents told The Boss, is that the yarn is not only being peddled by illiterates or layabouts, but by people who are well looked up to by the younger generation. It would be recalled that during the prelude to the presidential contest, Sam Omatseye, who is the chairman of the editorial board of the The Nations Newspapers, owned by Bola Tinubu, pen an opinion titled Obi-tuary, where he derided the person of Peter Obi and the Igbo race. His was not the last as many others followed.

What is more obvious than clear is the fact that a new precedence has been set by the so called Yoruba people fighting against Gbadebo. It means that many of them married to women of other tribes including foreign women, has automatically denied their children of Yoruba heritage. If a child born of another tribe-woman but Yoruba father is not of full Yoruba blood, then the race should be in for a crisis as many Yoruba men are spread across the world, and no one knows where the arrow of love will strike him.

Of more importance is the fact that Rhodes-Vivour contested the senatorial position for Lagos west in 2019 under the PDP, but no one remembered that he was a half breed. Then he had no chance of winning. Today, hatred has arisen because the young man was riding on the new found popularity of Peter Obi as the face of Nigerian politics presently, to sell himself.

“The day we purge ourselves of the crisis of ethnicity and tribalism, especially the one rooted in blind godfatherism, that will be the day a little respite of brotherliness will be deposited in the nation’s body polity,” a political analyst said.

In Oyo State, the sitting governor, Seyi Makinde, has every reason to worry. He is one of the G5 governors, who abandoned the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to support Tinubu to victory in Oyo. Today, the APC has denied any form of alliance with the governor, and transferred allegiance to its governorship candidate, Teslim Folarin. The sitting governor will battle to regain the confidence of the party he abandoned, and how he can make APC keep to their side of the bargain during the presidential race. As it stands, other members of the G5 has been made irrelevant having lost their bid to seek senatorial election. They are Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and Samuel Ortom of Benue State. The last and leader of the group, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is battling to ensure his candidate, Sim Fubara emerges the governor of Rivers State. If Fubara and Makinde loses today, that would mark the inglorious end of the G5.

In Nasarawa, Abdullahi Sule’s loss to the LP during the presidential election, is an eye opener, and has made the PDP family to intensify campaigns to ensure they return to government house. This is not forgetting that the APC is also hot on their heels.

In Kwara State, the government of Abdulrazaq will be facing another set of Otoge revolution chiefly because of the the general view that the governor under-performed, and again with the Bukola Saraki rising profile in the last four years..

In Bauchi State, Governor Bala Mohammed of the PDP is having a photo finish with his rival from the APC. The race for superiority has been the major cause of armed skirmishes between the supporters of both parties.

In Ogun State, the rivalry between the incumbent governor, Dapo Abiodun and former governor of the state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun continue to heighten. Though both men are in the same APC, Amosun is however sponsoring and supporting the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Biyi Otegbeye as thye incumbent owing to person issues. Abiodun will need more than his track record to defeat Amosun again.

In Adamawa State, the government of Ahmadu Fintiri will have a running battle with the APC candidate, Aishatu Binani, who is a woman. The crave for a first woman governor is keeping Fintiri at the edge of his seat as the governorship election lasts.

Whichever the pendulum swings, it must be noted that the sitting governors, who are seeking second terms are fretting owing to pronounced and tangible oppositions.