By Olusegun Olanrewaju and Oluwayemi Davidson
More candidates yesterday emerged from the senatorial and governorship primary elections conducted nationwide by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
For the 2023 governorship tickets, it was victory all the way for some candidates, including state legislators, among others.
In Delta, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Sheriff Oborevwori, won the PDP governorship ticket.
At the governorship primaries held at Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, Oborevwori polled 583 votes to emerge as the party’s candidate, beating 13 other governorship aspirants, including the former state governor, James Ibori’s preferred candidate, David Edevbie, and Senator James Manager to the ticket.
Edevbie scored 113 votes to come second, while Manager polled only 83 votes.
The state deputy governor, Kingsley Otuaro, another aspirant, had walked out of the venue while the counting of votes was still on.
In Rivers State, a former Accountant-General, Siminalaye Fubara, emerged as the governorship candidate of the PDP.
Fubara defeated nine other aspirants of the party to win the keenly contested election.
He polled 721 out of the 980 votes to win the election. The Former Commissioner of Finance, Isaac Kamalu, scored 89 votes to come second in the poll.
Fubara is said to be the preferred candidate of Governor Nyesom Wike.
Jibrin Barde was successful in the Gombe State PDP gubernatorial primaries.
It was a rebound for the former Chief Executive Officer of SunTrust Bank, who was the first runner-up in the 2019 All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial primary in the state, but later decamped to the PDP in February 2021.
In Jigawa State, Mustafa, the son of the former governor, Sule Lamido, emerged as the PDP state governorship candidate for the 2023 poll.
The returning officer for the primaries, Isah Ahmed, who announced the results in Dutse, said Mustafa scored 829 of the 832 votes cast to win the primaries, adding that Saleh Shehu placed second with zero votes.
Abia State PDP gubernatorial ticket would be flown in 2023 by the former Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Abia State University, Uturu, Prof. Uche Ikonne.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ikonne was elected at the party’s primary election held at the Umuahia Township Stadium yesterday.
He polled 468 votes to defeat five other contestants in the exercise that took place under the heavy presence of security personnel.
A close rival, Lucky Igbokwe came a distant second with 45 votes, while the only female contestant, Mrs Ngozi Merenge, scored five votes.
Other contestants, including Deputy Governor Ude Oko-Chukwu, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, and Senator Emma Nwaka, had earlier announced their withdrawal from the race.
They were, however, ‘credited’ with six, five, and four votes, respectively.
Prof. Greg Ibe, who formally defected to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) on April 17, was also credited with two votes, and five votes, respectively.
Other aspirants that withdrew from the race were Ncheta Omerekpe, Enyinnaya Nwafor, and Chima Anyaso.
However, they were credited with three, four, and five votes, respectively.
The chairman of the primary election committee and former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, thanked the delegates for their peaceful conduct during the exercise.
A gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of the PDP in Bauchi State, Ibrahim Kashim, has emerged as the party’s governorship flag bearer for the 2023 general election.
Kashim, the immediate past Secretary to the State Government (SSG), was the only governorship aspirant in the party’s primary election.
Chairman, PDP Governorship Primary Election Committee, Hassan Grema, announced this at the end of the exercise in Bauchi.
He said 656 delegates participated in the exercise, adding that only one vote was declared invalid.
“Ibrahim Kashim was the only aspirant of the party in the state and the delegates had to vote to complete the due process in line with the electoral law,” he said.
He commended the delegates for their orderly behaviour during the exercise held across the 21 local government areas of the state.
In Nasarawa State, a former member of the House of Representatives, David Ombugadu, has clinched the gubernatorial ticket of the PDP in Nasarawa State.
The chairman of the party’s electoral committee in the state, Bature Musa, announced Ombugadu as the winner of the governorship primary election held yesterday in the state of solid minerals.
He said Ombugadu polled 247 votes to defeat retired Maj. Gen. Nuhu Angbazo, who scored 203 votes.
“Having secured a total of 247, I thereby declare Hon. David Ombugadu the winner of the Nasarawa State Governorship primary election,” he said.
He said a total of 450 delegates were accredited and all voted in the election.
Reacting in an interview with newsmen, Ombugadu attributed his victory to God and promised to work hard to ensure that PDP takes over governance in the state in 2023.
Also reacting to the result of the primaries, Angbazo accepted the outcome describing the conduct as free and fair.
A former Chief of Staff to ex-governor Chimaroke Nnamani, Peter Mba, emerged as the PDP gubernatorial candidate in the coal state.
Mba, who was also a commissioner for finance in the Nnamani administration, polled 790 votes in the primaries contested by nine aspirants.
His closest rival, Chijioke Edeoga polled nine votes, followed by Chinyeaka Ohaa with three votes, while Senator Ike Ekweremadu and Chukwunta Gilbert allegedly emerged with one vote respectively.
The other five contestants which included Prof. Hillary Edeoga, Ken Onoh, Prof. Barth Nnaji, and Senator Gilbert Nnaji, scored zero votes.
Only three void votes were recorded in the primary election.
The chairman of the PDP gubernatorial primaries electoral committee in Enugu State, Senator Zik Sunday, who declared the result, described the process as “transparent, credible and peaceful”.
Sunday said 812 delegates were accredited for the exercise, with 807 votes cast.
He said at the close of accreditation, two delegates from Oji River local government area were absent.
The electoral committee chairman said that independent observers, including officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), were on the ground to monitor the exercise.
NAN further reports that 19 aspirants purchased the gubernatorial nomination form of the party.
However, before voting during the primaries, eight of the aspirants stepped down for Mba.
The aspirants who announced their withdrawals are Messrs Chukwudi Nneji, Kingsley Udeh, Erasmus Anike, and Nwabueze Ugwu.
The rest are Messrs Ifeanyichukwu Nwoye, Onyekwere Nnaji, Beloved-Dan Anike, and Gabriel Ajah.
In his acceptance speech, the governorship candidate pledged to serve with humility and build on the success of the current administration if elected.
According to Mba, it is our vision to transform our state with the support of the people of the state.
It would be recalled that Ekweremadu had in a statement early hours of Wednesday announced his withdrawal from the contest.
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Mba is a legal professional, who hails from the Nkanu East local government area of the state, and is the Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Oils Nig. Ltd.
Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, may stage a comeback in 2023 at the Agodi government house for a second term as he also bagged a PDP ‘flight ticket’.
Makinde defeated Hazeem Gbolarumi, who was his only opponent in the primaries held at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, Ibadan, yesterday.
Announcing the results of the election, the secretary of the PDP electoral committee, Abdullahi MaiBasira, said that 1,048 delegates were accredited to vote out of 1,086 delegates.
MaiBasira said Makinde scored 1,040 votes to defeat Gbolarumi, who scored only two votes; adding that six votes were voided.
In his acceptance speech, Makinde thanked all the delegates for finding him worthy to be the party’s flag bearer in the 2023 election.
Earlier, Gbolarumi, who alleged that his delegates were chased away from the venue of the primaries, called on the leadership of the party to do the right thing for the growth of the party in the state.
NAN reports that the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Oyo State, Dr Mutiu Agboke, and the INEC Administrative Secretary, Abiodun Onigate-Amosun, witnessed the primaries.
A former spokesman for Atiku Abubakar, Segun Sowunmi, also emerged as the governorship candidate of the PDP in Ogun State.
The chairman of the electoral committee, Abayomi Daniel, announced Sowunmi as the winner of the election after the votes were counted.
Abayomi said Sowunmi contested against two other aspirants, Jimi Lawal and Ladi Adebutu, who were not physically present but were represented by their agents at the primaries.
According to him, Sowunmi polled 555 votes to defeat his closest rival, Lawal, who scored 30 votes, while Adebutu polled 15 votes.
NAN reports that the election was held at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abeokuta.
According to Daniel, a total number of 778 delegates were accredited, 702 votes cast, while three votes were voided.
“By the power conferred on me by the national leadership of our great party as the chairman electoral committee of the PDP governorship primary election in Ogun, I declare
Segun Sowunmi winner of the election, having polled the highest number of votes and he is hereby returned and elected,” Daniel said.
Sowunmi, in his acceptance speech, commended members of the party for their support and promised not to let them down.
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He called on other aspirants to work together with him to secure victory for the party in the 2023 general elections.
NAN, however, reports that a parallel governorship primary was held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta.
NAN, however, reports that Adebutu and Lawal are present at the venue of the parallel election.
Oghiadomhe commended security personnel, journalists, contestants, and party executives for the peaceful conduct of the exercise.
He urged members of the party to work together to ensure its victory in the forthcoming general elections in the state.
In his acceptance speech, Barde attributed his victory to the will of God while commending the party.
He said that he would work with all the contestants to ensure the PDP won the election to provide good governance to the people of the state.
He congratulated the winner of the election, party delegates as well as party members whose conduct made the election hitch-free.
In an acceptance speech in Abia, Ikonne expressed gratitude to Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu and PDP for believing in him.
He gave assurance that he would not betray such confidence.
He further assured them that he would deliver victory to the party in the general election.
He promised to tackle the huge infrastructure needs of the state, create jobs for the youths and ensure that women were gainfully engaged when elected.
Kashim said: ‘” I want to thank you for bestowing the honour on me, this is just the beginning, we will have a great task ahead. We need to unite our party faithful ahead of the 2023 general election in the state,” he said.
He lauded Governor Bala Mohammed for providing purposeful leadership and executing developmental projects in three years of his administration.
Kashim pledged to build on the existing structures and consolidate on the feat achieved by Mohammed’s administration in the state.
The situation in Akwa Ibom State, however, was dicey, suggesting that hitches were also experienced elsewhere during the primary.
Aggrieved members accuse the state chapter of PDP of breaching a Federal High Court, Abuja, order, in going ahead with the just-concluded primary elections in the state.
The aggrieved members; Mr Friday Iwok and 31 others, through their lawyer, Ahmed Raji, SAN, told Justice Obiora Egwuatu that his order made on May 18 was disregarded by the defendants.
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Raji, therefore, prayed the court to set aside the primary election which was conducted on May 22, having failed to obey the court order which directed parties to maintain a status quo antebellum.
*Senatorial tickets
For the senatorial positions, the earlier birds with their emergent tickets were Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, his Taraba State counterpart, Darius Ishaku; former Gombe State governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo, and former Jigawa State helmsman, Saminu Turaki, who all clinched senatorial tickets from their respective states.
Ortom will fly the national leading opposition party’s flag in the contest for the senate in the 2023 general elections for the Benue South-West constituency.
The Benue governor was first elected on the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket in 2015 but was re-elected in 2019 on the PDP platform. He clinched the PDP’s senatorial ticket unchallenged.
In Gombe, former governor Dankwambo (2011-2019) won the ticket to represent the PDP in the Gombe North senatorial district poll.
Dankwambo, former accountant-general of the federation, emerged the winner of the exercise after a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Bayero Nafada, and Hamma Saleh withdrew from the race.
The returning officer said all the 144 delegates who took part in the exercise voted for the former governor.
Ex-Taraba governor, Ishaku, has also secured the PDP ticket to contest the Taraba South senatorial district election.
Like Ortom, he too was unchallenged in the election.
Jigawa’s northwest senatorial ticket will be flown by one of its ex-governors, Saminu Turaki.
Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, will be going to the senate next year on the PDP platform for Abia South. Ikpeazu was the sole candidate for the election held at Enyimba International Stadium, Aba, his home base.
Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, will be heading for the senate for Enugu North.
Former Governor of Bayelsa State and Senator representing Bayelsa West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Seriake Dickson, was returned as the winner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senatorial primary for Bayelsa West.
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Dickson polled 57 votes from the ad-hoc delegates to defeat his challenger, Donald Daunemeghan, who scored three votes.
While announcing the result of the election which was held at the Sagbama Local Government Service Commission Centre, the returning officer, Godspower Akeh, said the election had a total of 62 votes.
Akeh further explained that Dickson polled 57, to his opponent’s three while the votes of two delegates were voided for voting for both aspirants.
Meanwhile, in Bayelsa East, former President of the Ogbia Brotherhood and Chief of Staff to the State Governor, Benson Agadaga, clinched the ticket to represent the Senatorial district.
