Nigerians go to the polls for New Governors And State Legislators

By Babagana Jidda
Kanempress
18th March, 2023

Over 93 million Nigerians are electing new state Governors and Legislators today, 18th March.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had scheduled its timetable for March 11 but was postponed due to the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System introduced, BVAS.

BVAS will be used for accreditation, voting and transmission of results. The machine operates with a sim card on any mobile network.

Civil Society Organisations had effectively worked with the INEC and political parties for its smooth operation.

In 176,846 polling units across 28 States in Nigeria, citizens would elect new leaders for the second tier of government under the federal system structure.

Gubernatorial elections will not hold in eight out of 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. The states are Ekiti, Kogi, Edo, Bayelsa, Anambra, Ondo, Imo and Osun States.

Meanwhile, State Assembly elections will hold in the eight states except for the FCT.

Eighteen political parties are on the ballot while in some states, the political parties have had alliances and support for some major political parties, the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, and major opposition parties Peoples Democrat Party, PDP, Labour Party, LP, New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Social Democratic Party, SDP and Young Peoples Party, YPP, are beneficiaries.

Going by the last Presidential election results, the political map of Nigeria was redrawn as a result of a major upset in states like Lagos, Rivers, Nassarawa, Gombe, Katsina, Kebbi, Benue, Kano, Plateau, Osun and Oyo states.

The traditional political fortress of APC and PDP was taken over by the Labour Party and NNDP. Lagos, Katsina, Kaduna, Kebbi, Nassarawa, Plateau, and Gombe states, the stronghold of APC went to the Opposition Labour Party, LP.

Kano fell to the NNPP and APC surprisingly won in Benue, Oyo and Rivers States, the political battlegrounds in the Gubernatorial and state Assembly polls.

Intra Party crises within the major political parties are pointers and signals to major political battle in Benue, Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Delta Ogun and Oyo States. These are within the radar of political pundits for upsets.

Looking at the voting patterns in previous elections since 1999, Nigerians tend to be swayed by the performance of the Presidential election results, voting for the ruling party at the Federal level.

Security Agencies

Despite criticism of the last Presidential election, the INEC had vowed to conduct a free, fair and credible Gubernatorial and Local assembly elections.

The Administrative Secretary, of INEC Sokoto state, Hauwa Aliyu said; “We have worked on the loopholes and set for the Saturday election.”

“INEC’s website shows that the election results viewing portal is up and running for the polls and the Bimodal Voter Registration Systems, BVAS, have been configured for Saturday’s election. So the commission is determined to improve on its previous performance. What we have done is to learn valuable lessons from previous elections that we conducted,” NEC Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye said.