Nigerians have returned to the
polls to elect new state governors, with many
focusing on the race in commercial hub Lagos and how the
electoral body conducts voting after criticism of its handling
of last month’s disputed presidential election.
The electoral commission postponed Saturday’s governors poll by a week, saying it needed more time to reconfigure electronic voting machines that are at the centre of the dispute over the presidential vote won by Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party.
The main opposition People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Peter Obi rejected it as fraudulent and will challenge the results in court.
Governors wield enormous influence in Africa’s most populous
nation of more than 200 million and their support often decides
who becomes president. Some governors preside over states whose
annual budgets are bigger than some small African countries.
Voters will choose governors in 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states.
New state assemblies will also be elected in all the states.
The race that has generated the most interest is in Lagos,
Tinubu’s home state where he is nicknamed the “godfather” for
his enduring political influence.
Tinubu governed Lagos from 1999 to 2007 and has gone on to
play a major role in picking every successor since.
Obi, whose support came from young and urban voters, beat
Tinubu in Lagos last month. That has buoyed his Labour Party,
which is aiming to dethrone APC from running the state.
The ruling APC’s incumbent Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who has been
in the Lagos state government for the past two decades, faces a
strong challenge from Labour Party’s Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, an
architecture and political activist.
READ MORE:
Explained: How do Nigerians elect their president
High stakes
At stake is control of an annual $4 billion budget and
running Africa’s largest mega city of more than 20 million, home
to some of the country’s billionaires, including Aliko Dangote
who is building a multi-billion dollar oil refining complex.
But Lagos is also teeming with poverty as millions live in
slums without power and running water, and residents, rich and
poor, have to endure daily traffic jams and pollution.
Nigerians will also be watching the race in northeastern
Adamawa, a conservative and largely Muslim state, which could
produce the country’s first elected female governor.
The conduct of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) will once again come under scrutiny after its handling of
last month’s presidential and parliamentary election that had a
record-low voter turnout.
Observers from the European Union, the Commonwealth and
other bodies reported several problems during that election,
among them failures in systems designed to prevent vote
manipulation, and criticised the INEC for poor planning and
voting delays. But they did not allege fraud.
There were fewer cases of electoral violence last month but concern still remains about possible clashes in states like Kano in the north and oil-producing Rivers in the south, which have experienced post-election violence in the past.
READ MORE: Why Nigeria’s presidential elections matter to Africa and beyond
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