2023: Election May Be Decided By Parties’ Strength In LGAs  

The introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the electronic transmission of election results and the Election Result Viewing Portal are forcing political parties to take voters in far-flung rural areas more seriously, as they are likely to determine the outcome of the 2023 presidential elections.

The new technologies being introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have raised hopes of transparency with the election result viewing portal giving presidential candidates the opportunity to view live results from across the country and tabulate results as they are posted from wards to local governments.

In the 2019 presidential election, candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, had hinged his challenge of the election results on the existence of a server operated by INEC, saying the actual results had been transmitted electronically.

The presidential election tribunal however turned down his request to force INEC to make the server available for inspection.

Unlike in 2019, the transmission of results electronically is backed by the 2022 Electoral Act, forcing the major political parties to make plans to defend every vote ward by ward and in every local government.

Findings by LEADERSHIP Weekend showed that the major parties are depending on states where they control the administration of local governments or have been able to build structures in the past in areas where they had once governed.

Interactions with party officials, stakeholders and potential voters also suggest that the popularity of some presidential candidates in some states may be undermined by unpopular governorship candidates or candidates who simply are not campaigning and reaching out to voters in all the local government areas.

Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has Lagos on lockdown, with all the local government chairmen mobilising voters from every ward in the state.

In Katsina for example, the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, pulled an unexpected crowd when he visited the state but his campaign team and that of the party’s governorship candidate are missing at the local government level.

And in spite of the absence of elected local government chairmen in Bauchi, the organizational structure and strength of the party in the state is giving it an upper hand in attempts to reach out to voters in rural areas.

APC party officials in Imo however expressed frustration at the absence of local government chairmen to help drive their message and gain grassroots support for their candidates.

In most states however, political parties are devising new strategies to penetrate communities ahead of the February 25, 2023 presidential election.

 

PDP Gate Crashes Weddings, Burial In Akwa Ibom Communities

Angling for the soul of the 35-year-old state are the ruling PDP, YPP, NNPP, Labour Party (LP) and APC holding sway at the centre.

Our correspondent gathered that the ruling PDP, since the return of democracy in 1999, with deep pockets, have been able to oil its structures spread across the 31 local government areas.

With the clock ticking towards the polls proper in February, desperation among the parties have become the order of the day, as the parties have elected to embrace grassroots campaigns, attending every social functions to add political coloration and side attractions to weddings, burials, birthday ceremonies, big Church events like fund-raising, children dedications and traditional marriage rites.

On Wednesday, Governor Udom Emmanuel personally led his would-be successor, Pastor Uno Eno, to the burial ceremony of the late mother of his former attorney-general (AG) and commissioner for Justice, Uwemedimo Nwoko (SAN), at Abiankana-Nkana village in Ika local government area.

At the funeral rites, the governor seized the opportunity to present Eno, and wooed the people to embrace him, as the next in line to succeed him.

All the adjoining local government areas, including Etim Ekpo, Ika, Ukanafun and Oruk Anam, he added, would be connected to the power grid for constant electricity at the completion of ongoing work at Etim Ekpo power sub-station.

 

APC, PDP Engage In House-to-house Mobilisation In South West

In the South West, the two dominant parties, APC and PDP, are intensifying efforts at canvasing the support of electorates in preparation for the February 2023 elections in Osun State.

Both parties did not limit their campaigns for their candidates to ward level but are vigorously engaging in house to house mobilisation in support of their parties.

A chieftain of PDP in the state from Osun East senatorial district, Mayowa Adejorin, while speaking with LEADERSHIP WEEKEND said all hands are on deck to ensure victory for his party.

According to him, the need to consolidate the victory of Senator Ademola Adeleke as the governor of Osun and make governance easy for him informed frantic efforts by the party to have a comfortable majority at the House of Assembly currently dominated by the opposition APC.

Adejorin who declared optimism that his party would not only control the state House of Assembly but have a comfortable lead at other levels, especially since PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is their in-law in his senatorial district.

Also speaking, Omoniyi Oluyide, APC chairman in Obokun local government area, said his party cannot afford to play with grassroots mobilisation of the Osun electorate in anticipation of immediate past governor of the state’s victory at the ongoing election petition tribunal.

Oluyide who expressed optimism that the APC will sweep the polls come February noted that Osun electorate are committed to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s victory.

He however said that his party will not leave any stone unturned to ensure victory for the party at all levels in Osun State.

 

APC Takes Campaign To 128 Wards In Katsina

Less than 65 days to the general election, the ruling APC in Katsina State has been the only party that started its campaign in the state.

While the main opposition, the PDP, and other parties are yet to flag-off campaign across the state, the APC gubernatorial candidate, Dr Dikko Umar Radda, and his deputy, Faruk Jobe, have already concluded their first phase tour of the electioneering campaign in the 128 wards across 12 local government areas of Daura zone.

The first campaign was flagged off on Monday, December 5, 2022 in Faskari local government area where they received overwhelming support from a mammoth crowd before embarking on the ward-to-ward tour at Baure, Dutsi, Ingawa, Bindawa, Zango, Mani, Mashi Kusada,  Mai’adua, Daura, Sandamu and climaxed in Kankia local government area on Sunday, December 18, 2022.

For PDP, the visit of its presidential candidate, Atiku, to the state on December 20, 2022 has shocked pundits, especially with the large turnout of the crowd that rallied to support him at the Mahammadu Dikko Stadium.

 

Unexpected May Happen In Enugu As Opposition Intensity Campaigns In Rural Areas.

In Enugu State, opposition parties have intensified campaigns in rural areas in the 17 local government Areas.

Our correspondent who has been monitoring political events in recent times observed that the unexpected may happen during the election.

The ruling PDP has been dominating Enugu politics since 1999, as no other party has produced a governor except the party.

Similarly, apart from the PDP, no other party has produced any member of the National Assembly since 1999.

But pundits closely monitoring Enugu politics believe that the PDP has won most of the elections through rigging and may find it difficult to win most of the positions come 2023.

Our correspondent observed that the major political parties, including the Labour Party, APC and APGA, are seriously campaigning in the rural areas.

The parties, it was gathered, have visited all the wards in the state, a development that has instilled fear in candidates of the PDP.

It is very common these days to find party stakeholders and campaign officials of various political parties attending traditional wedding ceremonies of most residents in communities.

They also attend burial/naming ceremonies of residents just to win them over and get the support of the electorates ahead of the forthcoming 2023 polls.

Politicians also pay school fees of pupils and students whose parents may not have had the wherewithal to pay school fees of their wards.

 

Council Chairmen Return To LGAs In Cross River

In Cross River State, local government chairmen have been tasked with the responsibility of delivering their domains to the ruling parties.

As a result, council chairmen who are in the habit of residing in the state capital have suddenly returned to their council areas to enable them to be in touch with the electorate in order to win their support for their political party, the APC.

Cross River State has 18 local government areas headed by chairmen who are APC members.

They all defected to the APC with the state governor, Prof Ben Ayade, who decamped from the PDP to the APC.

Despite the fact that the 18 LGAs are being controlled by council chairmen who are APC members, the PDP still remains relevant in the state.

 

PDP Yet To Begin Campaign In Sokoto

Prior to the flag-off of its statewide campaign for the 2023 general elections, PDP in Sokoto State has rounded up its town hall meetings held at the instance of the state campaign committee, with party stakeholders in the 23 local government areas across the state.

Sokoto state chairman of the party, Honourable Bello Goronyo, said the stakeholders meeting is a new development introduced in the state campaign by the director general of the campaign committee, Honourable Yusuf Suleiman.

Goronyo described the party’s stakeholders meeting as a process to resolve internal wrangling at the grassroots in the party.

He said the stakeholders meeting has given the party an opportunity to listen to members of the party at the grassroots level so as to address their challenges even before the official declaration of the party campaign in the state.

On his part, the director general of the campaign committee, Yusuf Suleiman, said the party decided to chart a new way before the commencement of its campaign to give opportunity to every member of the party to express their minds.

He said the stakeholders meeting has helped the party to know what exactly needs to be done to have a better outing in the 2023 general election.

Apart from the reported decamping of two aides of Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to the APC, grassroots mobilisation and campaign activities in the opposition party ahead of the 2023 general election is virtually in limbo.

Less than two months to the elections, APC in Sokoto State is yet to constitute its campaign committees or commence town hall meetings.

 

PDP Leads Other Parties In Bauchi Rural Areas

Political parties in Bauchi State are re-strategising to win the hearts of the electorates at the grassroots level.

For instance, the PDP flagged off its gubernatorial campaign for Bauchi South in Toro a couple of weeks ago.

Before the zonal campaign was launched, the party undertook a polling station by polling station campaign across the state.

Sulaiman Musa, a PDP member, told LEADERSHIP Weekend that the party deployed three distinct strategies, including campaign at polling stations, ward by ward campaign and thirdly local government campaign.

However, after the expiration of the tenure of former elected local government chairmen, Governor Bala Mohammed is yet to swear in caretaker committees that would work to deliver votes from their respective local government councils to PDP in 2023 polls.

The governor had a week ago submitted nominees for screening and confirmation to the Bauchi State House of Assembly. The House screened and confirmed the nominees who are now waiting to be sworn in.

He said the party will flag off its campaigns in two other senatorial zones of the state after that of Bauchi South.

On the other hand, parties opposing the hegemony of PDP in Bauchi State appear to be inactive at the grassroots at the moment.

The biggest challenger, APC, launched its gubernatorial campaign in Bauchi on Thursday.

This, according to Yusuf Ibrahim, an APC member in Bauchi, has reduced the presence of the party at the grassroots.

He said, “There is time to meet up with the 2023 electioneering. I think by January next year, things will begin to take shape.”

Again, NNPP has officially not commenced its campaigns in Bauchi, as the party is yet to officially flag off its gubernatorial campaign in the state.

Ibrahim Burra, a political affairs commentator said while PDP has a more grassroots presence in Bauchi than other parties put together, candidates are shy of deploying active campaigns early because of the cost of campaigns.

He said other parties are deliberately delaying their campaigns strategies until January next year to avoid incurring costs.

 

Opposition Hampered In Borno

Grassroots mobilisation by the various political parties in Borno State is gaining momentum, with the parties scavenging for votes from the electorate across the communities and local government areas of the state ahead of the 2023 general election.

However, the major hurdle facing the opposition parties in the state is access to rural areas of the state amid meagre resources at their disposal and protection by the security agents while travelling to the communities for campaign.

It is especially tasking considering dreaded activities of the Boko Haram terrorists in some of the routes, especially the Maiduguri- Damboa road and Maiduguri- Monguno Ngazai road that leads to the northern part of the state as well as others.

Another hurdle against the opposition parties in the state in the 2023 election is lack of structures by the parties in all the local government areas, unlike the ruling APC that is visible in all parts of the state.

While the PDP, which is the main opposition in the state is struggling to meet up with the speed at which the ruling APC is rallying the electorate, the most affected is the NNPP  and the Labour Party, which birthed just recently in the state with few structures both at the capital and the rural areas.

Apart from Maiduguri, the capital city of Borno State, which is the battle ground for sourcing of votes in the election, the various internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp is the next area the parties would slug it out to win votes.

Again, the state government had, beginning from the end of last year, embarked on resettlement of the IDPs to their ancestral homes and closed the camps in Maiduguri, hosting the returnees at the super camps created by the APC administration at the headquarters of most of the local government areas.

This also poses another hurdle for the opposition parties because the state and local governments have been catering for the needs of the IDPs, and convincing them to vote against their caretakers may prove difficult.