Many people are still trying to make sense out of the G-7 governors who hastily visited President Buhari a day after the burial of the 73 Nigerians killed by Fulani herdsmen and urged him to run without taking time to mourn with their counterpart in Benue State, Samuel Ortom who is also a member of the APC.
After the inglorious visit, several questions and condemnations have trailed it. Several people have asked whose interest they represented. Was all that drama for their selfish interest or that of the people of their various states? Was the visit for the general good of all Nigerians? Many questions have been asked and are still being asked till this moment.
The APC governors namely Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Abubakar Bello (Niger), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe) and Jibrilla Bindow (Adamawa), had on January 4, 2017, visited the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja asking him to seek re-election in 2019. What are their antecedents and electoral values?
Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai of Kaduna State
The Kaduna State governor has not had it smooth in recent times. Amid the insecurity in the North as a result of the herdsmen and famers clashes, Governor EL-Rufai who is the spokesman of the ‘G7’ visited President Muhammad Buhari alongside six other governors to endorse him for a second term.
Back in Kaduna, labour unions were protesting the sack of about 22,000 teachers from the state civil service but the governor did not seem to be bothered.
He is a first term governor. His major strength in 2015 was the fact that he ran under the platform of the APC, which was a very strong force in the North due to Buhari’s candidature coupled with his saint-like status. Buhari was branded as a messiah who would put an end to all of Nigeria’s problems and long sufferings of Nigerians. His core supporters in the North believed the hype and bought into the campaign.
Today, the situation is different in Kaduna as the division between those in Kaduna South and Kaduna North has deepened. Christians from Southern Kaduna whose numbers are being decimated daily have accused the governor of not doing enough to put an end to the Fulani herdsmen’s carnage because of his ethnic and religious affiliations. Another issue is the sack of the 22, 000 teachers in Kaduna state, which has ruined whatever he has tried to achieve in the state in the last few years. If he considers a re-run for a second term, there’s every likelihood that his main rival in the State, Senator Shehu Sani, may give him a run for his money if he decamps to PDP to run for governor. This is not far from the fact that the senator has a huge following across the divide in Kaduna state.
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State
Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, is the leader of the ‘G7’ governors. Governor Ganduje is not new in Nigerian politics. He was a two-term Deputy Governor of the state, serving under the administration of Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. He is currently a first term governor having been first elected in 2015 on the platform of the APC.
Like El-Rufai, he rode to power on the mantra of ‘change’ but not entirely due to Buhari’s popularity in the North. He was also helped by his former boss, Kwankwaso with his ‘Kwankwasiya’ movement.
However, he has fallen out with his former boss, who is believed to be nursing the ambition of becoming president in 2019. There have been several reports of clashes between his supporters and those in the Kwankwasiya movement.
Since the presidential election has been scheduled before the governorship election, Ganduje’s hope may be attached to that of Buhari. His prayers may be for Buhari to decide to run in the forthcoming election, perhaps if he wins, with the support of Buhari, he may be lucky to retain his seat in 2019. Having lost the support of Kwankwaso, who stood behind him in 2015. That’s his major headache as the countdown begins.
Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State
He is a quiet governor who is hardly in the media for anything good or bad. By the way, who wouldn’t be with the presence of two past Heads of state of Nigeria residing with him in the same state? Like the rest, he may be relying on President Buhari’s support to defeat whoever emerges candidate of the main opposition party, the PDP in 2019.
In 2015, Bello defeated his closest rival Alhaji Umar Nasko of the PDP. He polled 593,702 votes to defeat Nasko of the PDP, who polled 239,772 votes. With or without Buhari’s support, the story may be different in 2019 because Niger State is under the Middle Belt. Considering the invasion of herdsmen in communities in the Middle Belt states and the inaction of the APC administration, it could pose a huge problem for him to get a second term. But who knows, he may just slip by quietly.
Yahaya Bello of Kogi State
Bello remains the only governor in Nigeria under this dispensation who is constantly in the media for the wrong reasons. It is either he is at loggerheads with one of his former supporters, Dino Melaye, or the workers and pensioners in his state.
People from Kogi State are furious with Governor Yahaya Bello for not commiserating with his neighbour in Benue State, Gov. Samuel Ortom after the tragedy.
Bello has been in the news for the wrong reasons. Since he assumed office on January 27, 2017, he has been swimming in the murky waters of politics as his administration has been trailed by controversies. From double INEC registration to non-payment of workers’ salaries for over 10 months, Bello’s administration has been a turbulent one.
It would be recalled that Yahaya Bello became governor as a result of the death of Prince Abubakar Audu. Bello who is Ebira from Kogi Central became the first non-Igala to be sworn in as a democratically elected governor of the state. However, his emergence was highly controversial.
The All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in the November 21, 2015, election, Prince Abubakar Audu, who was leading the PDP candidate Idris Wada by a margin of 41,000 votes, died after the election was declared inconclusive and Bello was nominated by the APC to replace him.
Nowhere in the constitution was it envisaged that there could be an instance where a candidate on the verge of winning an election would suddenly die in an inconclusive election.
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The Next Edition learnt that Bello spends more time in Abuja than Lugard House, in Lokoja. His re-election bid will heavily rely on the fortunes of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019. Most political analysts have scored him low. And it is a trend that may continue irrespective of whether Buhari wins the presidential election in 2019 or not. Bello has become too unpopular to win a second term. If Buhari loses that would compound matters for him.
Bindow Jibrilla of Adamawa State
The Adamawa State governor was formerly of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) prior to the 2015 general election from where he sought for the party’s ticket to become the governor of the state. After his defection and he got the ticket of the APC, Governor Bindow defeated the likes of Nuhu Ribadu and Markus Gundiri in the state 2015 governorship polls.
In Adamawa state, the APC candidate Jibrilla Bindow held sway in 2015. The advantage he had over his main challenger, Malam Ribadu was the ripple effect Muhammadu Buhari’s victory had on the election. Buhari defeated Jonathan in Adamawa State due to the latter’s inability to resolve the insecurity problem ravaging the North East. That paved the way for Bindow.
He may be relying on Buhari’s support in 2019. The problem he may face is that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar is from Adamawa State. If he runs under the platform of the PDP and defeats Buhari, that may affect Bindow’s chances negatively in the governorship election.
Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State
Plateau State has been a stronghold of the ruling PDP since 1999. Internal wrangling within the PDP in Plateau state in 2015 was the major reason why the party failed at the polls. The current governor of the state, Simon Lalong of the APC, benefitted from the crisis within the PDP.
It would be recalled that the PDP governorship candidate, Gyang Pwajok, was allegedly imposed by Governor Jang on the party thus causing disarray within the party.
Aside from the aggrieved members within the PDP who were against the emergence of Pwajok, the people of Plateau state were not in support of his candidature. They were of the view that he was a puppet of Jang who wouldn’t have a mind of his own.
The APC candidate for Plateau State, Simon Lalong, was declared winner, having scored 564, 913 votes. Lalong defeated the PDP candidate, Pwajok, a serving senator representing Plateau north in the National Assembly, who polled 520,627 votes. The narrow victory shows that this time around (2019) Lalong may not be as lucky as he was in 2015.
Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State
Of all the ‘G7’ governors who visited Buhari to beg him to vie for a second term, only Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State is not seeking re-election as he had been sworn in as Executive Governor of Yobe State twice.
The PDP has never won Yobe State in both presidential and governorship election. Prior to 2015, it had been a stronghold of the opposition just like Lagos. Since the return of democracy in 1999, Yobe has never fallen into the hands of the PDP. Just like Borno, Yobe remained the stronghold of opposition politics at all levels.
Based on the strong show put up by Geidam during the presidential poll in 2015, which saw Buhari defeat Jonathan and also his own re-election which saw him defeat Alhaji Adamu Waziri of the PDP, it is evident that Yobe would go the way of APC in 2019 irrespective of who flies the party’s flag at the presidential and gubernatorial level.
To say the least, the governors’ visit to Buhari to urge him to seek re- election at that particular period was condemned by all and sundry. Senator Sani condemned the action of the seven governors from his party, APC. He said: “Seven governors in the Villa are asking President Buhari to run at this material time when all hands should be on deck to advise or support him to end the mindless bloodletting and carnage in the country is most unfortunate. Human reasoning and human conscience where art thou?”
