WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2011-04-24 Time: 01:00:04 Posted By: News Poster
By Stanley Nkwocha
When push comes to shove… As the April Polls wind down on Tuesday, April 26, with the governorship elections slated to hold in some states of the Federation. STANLEY NKWOCHA projects how the states may vote in the ‘battle extraordinaire’.
The April polls have come and with all sense of modesty, one can say the elections this year have been highly impressive and acceptable. The high turnout of Nigerians at the polls suggests that it is a new dawn for a country that has suffered massive electoral fraud in the past and the consequent loss of confidence in the system.
With the National Assembly and presidential polls over, the die is cast for the governorship poll which would hold on Tuesday. Of the 36 states of the federation, elections will hold in only 25 states namely, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Borno , Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa and Kaduna. Others include Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara States while in the remaining 6 states of Adamawa, Sokoto, Bayelsa, Kogi and Cross River elections will not hold as the controversy generated over their tenures since re-elected seems to favor them no thanks to the Court of Appeal’s judgement that affirmed the ruling of a High Court that the tenures of the governors could not take a retroactive effect with respect to the amended 2011 Electoral Act.
For the governors of Ekiti, Edo, Anambra, Ondo, and Osun States, it is a relaxed tenure in office as will be more concerned on how to get the members of their respective parties into their States’ Houses’ of Assembly. Again, they would be joining the afore mentioned to enjoy fresh terms in office following their return as governors at the Tribunals.
Abia State comes first on the list and it is where incumbent Governor, Theodore Orji of the PDP is expected to collide with his former benefactor, Orji Kalu’s Progressive Peoples Alliance’s PPA, candidate, Chris Akomas. Given the results of the National Assembly polls and the over 80 percent the PDP netted at the presidential polls, it will be safe to say emphatically that the PDP will coast home to victory. Needless to say that the demystification of Orji Kalu, formerly the strongman of Abia politics, at the polls penultimate week by Senator Uche Chukwu Merije , put paid to the threat that the incumbent may have faced. If anything, the mystical powers wielded by Orji who ‘won’ the elections for Theodore Orji (even while in jail) against the ruling PDP, clearly marks the beginning of Orji’s long walk towards his ‘political albatross’.
In Akwa-Ibom, though the Action Congress of Nigeria’s (ACN) governorship candidate in the state, James Akpan Udoedudehe has given the incumbent, Godswill Akpabio, sleepness nights even the former minister has been arraigned in court for treason charges. It would be difficult to see him wrestle power from Akpabio. Though PDP is strongly on ground in the State, ethnic factors that have played in are clearly in Akpabio’s favor. This is just as it is said he has creditably performed in the state. Again if the flow pattern as regards the results that have pumped out from the state is anything to write home about, it will also be safe to give the state to the PDP.
For Bauchi State, Governor Isa Yuguda may as well be writing his handing over note: The predictions have been one way – Yuguda will go.
Since decamping back to his ruling Peoples Democratic Party after winning the 2007 elections under the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, Yuguda’s travails has been overflowing in torrents. Will he survive the seeming tsunami? The CPC seems ready to coast home to victory in the state. The influence of Gen. Buhari in the State has turned the party into a new bride with its candidate, Engr. Nuhu Gidado. However, if the recent crisis in the CPC in the state, following the removal of Yusuf Maitama Tugga’s as CPC’s candidate is not handled properly, then Senator Suleiman Nazif of the ANPP could just nip in the goal and become the governor. But as things stand now, CPC is the darling in the state. Now whether this love would be transformed into a winning remains the big question.
In Benue State, though some would be quick to say that Governor Gabriel Suswam is in trouble, the truth still remains that the opposition. Action Congress of Nigeria in the state seems at lost as to the perfect strategy to oust this perceived enemy of theirs as Suswam has continuously held on to the state’s political power and further entrenched his political tentacle in the state. His major opponent, the ACN candidate, Prof. Stephen Ugbah is reputed not to have the popularity that is required to oust ‘a certain Suswam’. Therefore, Suswam will most certainly have a second term in office.
In Borno State, it’s a dicey situation where it would be risky to put one’s money to bet. Give it to the ANPP in the state because despite Governor Sheriff’s seeming loss of face before the people of Borno State, his party still calls the shots in the state. The Borno people may have voted for the CPC at the presidential elections, but for Tuesday’s gubernatorial election, it would be a straight fight between PDP and ANPP candidates, Mohammed Goni and Kashim Shettima, respectively.
While the achievements and experience of Goni whilst he was governor of Borno State many years ago counts for him, Shettima’s gentility and humility puts him in a class of his own, more so that his party, the ANPP, is heavily on ground. For Borno, it is a dicey situation, with the ANPP likely to cruise home victorious.
For Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa and Rivers States, it will be total victory for the PDP, just as it will be for the party in Plateau and Taraba States. The one way nature of the polical fortunes of the PDP in these states make it almost a foregone conclusion for the party. Not even Plateau State, where crisis in the state was thought to give the opposition a chance of clinching the state is there a clear, hope. Sadly, like a pack of cards, the opposition in these states have made it practically impossible to make gains in the states.
For Kaduna, Kebbi and Katsina States, it is almost with certainty that the PDP would lose the states. The CPC in these States have become more than a nightmare to the ruling party as it, with impunity, continues to turn in votes and garner supportership for itself. Again, no thanks to the Buhari firepower currently ravaging some Northern states.
In Imo state, where the politics of the state has consumed the Interior Affairs minister, Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho, it is a dicey situation too. Clearly, for governor Ikedi Ohakim, his, is a love lost relationship with the majority of Imo people. Despite this however, it would be almost miraculous for Ohakim to lose the elections. Somehow, he has devised means as the cat with nine lives. But for Owelle Rochas Okorocha, he has progressively warmed into the hearts of many. How he transcends this into victory will be a puzzle he alone can solve.
For Lagos, Oyo and Ogun States, it is certainly ‘oyoyo’ to the ACN . While Lagos is untouchable and no go area for the PDP, both Ogun and Oyo seem set to cave in to the CAN alsoand it is no more news that the PDP is in shambles in Ogun and Oyo states under Akala is set to be next shopping product in ACN’s shopping bag. The party has not made any pretence of its desire to rake in the entire South west and with the ‘Tinubu power’, the states are caving in one by one.
Nasarawa and Kano States are two states that will be too close to call. The complex nature of the politics going on in these states suggests that the coast will never be clear until the results are finally pumped out. Between Nasarawa’s Aliyu Doma and Almakura of the CPC, it will be battle royale.
In Yobe State, the PDP seems to have woken to the challenges posed by the successes of the ANPP in the last elections in the state. The Yobe electorate are clearly voting for personalities this time and if feelers from the state is anything to go bye, then, for incumbent Governor, Ibrahim Geidam, it may just be bye to the Government House, Damaturu. His opponent in the PDP, Senator Usman Albishir has repositioned his party and stalwarts for the biggest political battle he is to undertake. For the politician who was the backbone of the ANPP in the State before decamping to the PDP, this is litmus test for his political suaveness. Indeed, the PDP may rake in Yobe but if the power of incumbency is brought to bare on the political space in the state, then Albishir himself knows that the battle will be like the ‘el classico’ of Spanish football, however, Albishir may come out victorious.
Finally, in Zamfara State, the battle will be rough, tough and hard between the ANPP and the PDP. Governor Mahmud Shinkafi’s erstwhile boss, Senator Sani Yarima seems poised to give the governor a run for his money. The battle between the duo has taken a frightening dimension since the relationship between them collapsed. However, if the result of elections that have taken place in the state is anything to go by, then Shinkafi is in trouble as the Zamfara electorate seems to be siding with the ANPP. However, like the chess masters would say, ‘you can never predict the master’s next move.’
Benue, Borno , Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa and Kaduna. Others include Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara states.
Original date published: 23 April 2011
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201104230047.html?viewall=1