By Mike Ojoobanikan
In Oyo State, his name looms large. Like Louis XIV who said ‘L’etat c’est moi‘ (‘I am the state’), Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State (Buoda ‘Siaka for style), referred to himself as the Constituted Authority who should be obeyed implicitly. His words were laws. He opens his mouth too wide to talk to people anyhow. To him, traditional institutions that had existed for centuries before he was born could be overturned overnight.
However, on 23 February, he was sent tumbling down his peacock throne and became humble. Even his luxuriant mustache became sober! That is the power of the people when, in an election, their votes count. For the people of Oyo State, 23 February was a day of reckoning. And they got even with the Governor. He lost to a former Commissioner for Commerce and Cooperatives, Kola Balogun, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Ajimobi, however, conceded defeat and congratulated the winner.
In Kwara State, the Sarakis’ names meant power, money and influence. The family, beginning from Olusola Saraki, Senate Leader in the Second Republic, to his son, Bukola, current Senate President, the mystique was huge. In his sitting room in Ilorin, notwithstanding his cosmopolitan and debonair nature, men who are older than he is stoop to talk to him. On Saturday 23 February, the invincibility of the Sarakis became an object for the scrap heap of history. Why? The people shouted, “O to gee” (enough!). And after Bukola Saraki’s defeat, “O to gee” transformed to “O t’ope” (appreciation to God).
Senator Godswill Akpabio, former governor of Akwa Ibom State, was in the Peoples Democratic Party before he jumped ship to be with All Progressives Congress. His successor, Udom Emmanuel, made sure that Akpabio lost face the way he humiliated his own predecessor, Obong Victor Attah, architect of modern Akwa Ibom. On 23 February, Akpabio was humbled by the electorate of the state, effectively mobilised by Emmanuel. For Akpabio, it was also “how are the mighty fallen!” The same chant applies to Senator Shehu Sani (PRP, Kaduna Central).
In Anambra, Senator Victor Umeh, the former national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA lost to Senator Uche Ekwunife. Senator Andy Uba’in Anambra South was dusted by Chief Ifeanyi Ubah.
In Delta, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, the immediate past governor of Delta State tried for the second time but failed again. Accordong to a Niger Delta analyst, “In 2015 he stepped away from the contest with Senator James Manager in the primary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Having defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr. Uduaghan got the ticket of the party a month or two after he joined but again fell to Senator Manager in the election declared yesterday.”
Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State also failed to win the Gombe North Senate seat; he lost out to Alhaji Saidu Alkali. In Kaduna, Mr. Bala Bantex, the outgoing deputy governor was defeated by the incumbent Senator Danjuma Lah in the contest for Kaduna South Senatorial District.
Others who lost include Mao Ohuabunwa (PDP, Abia North), Rafiu Ibrahim (PDP, Kwara South), Nazif Gamawa (PDP, Bauchi) Tayo Alasoadura (APC, Ondo Central), Yele Omogunwa (Ondo South) and Suleiman Hunkuyi (PDP, Kaduna North).
Other senators who lost out included Shittu Ubali (PDP, Jigawa North East), Shehu Sani (PRP, Kaduna Central), Mohammed Hassan (PDP, Yobe South) and Binta Masi Garba (APC, Adamawa North) and Nelson Effiong, APC, Akwa Ibom South. The losers also included Senators Hamman Isa Misau (PDP, Bauchi Central), Ahmed Ogembe (PDP, Kogi Central), Attai Aidoko (PDP, Kogi East), Barnabas Gemade (SDP, Benue North East), David Umaru (APC Niger East), Monsurat Sunmonu (ADC, Oyo Central), Rilwan Adesoji (ADP, Oyo South), Abiodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti South), Duro Faseyi (PDP, Ekiti North).
SERVING SENATORS NOT RETURNING TO THE 9TH SESSION:
1. Dr. Bukola Saraki (PDP, Kwara Central)
2. Godswill Akpabio (APC, Akwa Ibom West)
3. Nazif Gamawa (PDP, Bauchi)
4. Rafiu Ibrahim (PDP, Kwara South)
5. Tayo Alasoadura (APC, Ondo Central)
6. Yele Omogunwa (Ondo South)
7. Suleiman Hunkuyi (PDP, Kaduna North)
8. Monsurat Sunmonu (ADC, Oyo Central)
9. Rilwan Adesoji (ADP, Oyo South)
10.Abiodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti South)
11.Duro Faseyi (PDP, Ekiti North)
12.Mao Ohuabunwa (PDP, Abia North)
13.Andy Uba (APC, Anambra South)
14.Victor Umeh (APC Anambra Central)
15.Senators Shittu Ubali (PDP, Jigawa North East)
16.Shehu Sani (PRP, Kaduna Central)
17.Mohammed Hassan (PDP, Yobe South)
18.Binta Masi Garba (APC, Adamawa North)
19.Hamman Isa Misau (PDP, Bauchi Central)
20.Ahmed Ogembe (PDP, Kogi Central)
21.Attai Aidoko (PDP, Kogi East)
22.Barnabas Gemade (SDP, Benue North East)
23.Bob Effiong (APC, Akwa Ibom)
24.George Akume (APC, Benue North West)
25.David Mark (PDP, Benue South)
26.Fatima Raji Rasak (APC, Ekiti Central).
Surprising Winners!
Despite the hatred that people in parts of Ifo Local Government Area (comprising Akute, Sango, Olambe, Adiyan,) and Agbara areas have for Governor Ibikunle Amosun, because of their bad roads, he still won the Ogun Central Senatorial Seat. Amosun won the Ogun Central Senatorial seat with 88,110 votes as against the PDP’s 33,276 votes. In Imo, not a few swore by their grandfathers’ coffins that Governor Rochas Okorocha would lose his senatorial ambition. To them, he would win if the foreigners’ statues he erected would vote for him! Despite the initial hiccups, he won the Imo West Senatorial District seat with 97,762 votes to defeat the PDP’s candidate, Jones Onyereri, who scored 63,117 votes.
In Anambra the chairman of Capital Oil and Gas Limited, Ifeanyi Ubah, emerged winner of the Anambra South Senatorial district election under the platform of the Young Progressive Party (YPP). He scored 87,081 votes, to beat, Chris Uba of the PDP with 52,462 votes, and his younger brother, incumbent Senator Andy Uba with 13,245 votes.
Also in Kaduna, there was another surprise when, as Thisday put it, “Accord Party candidate for the Katsina North Senatorial District, Lawal Nalado, dusted the APC incumbent senator, Kaita Baba-Ahmad at his polling unit. Nalado gave a 263 votes lead against APC’s 248 votes. The PDP candidate Usman Mani was the least popular, scoring a disappointing two votes. But it a phyrrhic for Nalado, for when votes from other areas were tallied Kaita was returned as senator.”
In Kogi State, Senator Dino Melaye may look like a clown to outsiders, but the Okun Yoruba of Kogi West Senatorial District thought otherwise. He beat his strongest opponent, Smart Adeyemi of the APC by 85,395 votes against Adeyemi’s 66,901 votes. The war Okun people had was not with Adeyemi but APC, given the way the state goverment has always maginalised them.
