Governorship Elections: APC holds 15 states; PDP 11; three outstanding

A clearer picture has now emerged of how the two dominant political parties performed in this year’s governorship elections across the country.

Elections held in 29 of the 36 states this year, and results for 26 states are now fully in following the supplementary poll on Saturday.

Elections did not hold in Kogi, Edo, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Ondo and Anambra this year.
A breakdown of the results from the 26 states showed that the All Progressives Congress, which controls the centre, won in 15 states; while the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party laid claim to 11 states.

Adamawa, Bauchi and Rivers are the remaining three of the total 29 states that held governorship polls on March 9 but whose results are still outstanding as of the evening of March 24.

As results from those three states stand, the PDP appeared poised to win each of them, which would likely expand its states to 14.

The PDP is leading in Adamawa from the March 9 results, but a supplementary election that was scheduled to wrap up the state was delayed by a court ruling. It is however expected that PDP’s Ahmadu Fintiri would defeat Governor Jibrilla Bindow based on the already declared results and the analysis of collected PVCs in places where supplementary poll will hold.

In Bauchi, PDP’s Bala Mohammed, erstwhile Abuja minister, has all but defeated Governor Mohammed Abubakar, as results from Saturdays supplementary poll showed he had expanded his lead over the incumbent.

The results from Bauchi are being held due to a court order that prohibited further collation of results from Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area. But an examination of the already declared results show the PDP candidate poised for victory even without that LGA.

Although INEC has not collated results from Rivers State, the state’s status as a PDP stronghold, as with the remaining states in the core Niger-Delta, has positioned Governor Nyesom Wike for a possible second term.

The PDP’s chances in Rivers were bolstered by the failure of APC to field candidates in the election, after the Supreme Court found that the party did not satisfy election guidelines to have a governorship candidate in the state.

The results of the election also show that at least four states changed leadership between APC and PDP. Kwara and Gombe that are currently governed by the PDP were won by the APC while Imo and Oyo that are governed by the APC have now been won by the PDP.

(Premium Times)