By Tope Omogbolagun
Eight serving lawmakers in the Senate will have their names on the ballot papers for governorship elections in different states across the country on Saturday.
The governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections which were earlier scheduled for 11 March were moved to March 18.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, in a statement by its spokesperson, Festus Okoye, announced that the reason for the postponement was to create adequate time to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System ahead of the polls.
According to the information on the official website of the INEC, eight incumbent senators are currently contesting for governorship seats across the country.
They include the senator representing Adamawa Central Senatorial District, Aishatu Dahiru, popularly known as Binani, who is the governorship candidate of All Progressive Congress in Adamawa State, the home state of the People Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
If she wins, she would be Nigeria’s first elected female governor.
She will square up to the incumbent governor, Ahmadu Fintiri of the PDP, Usman Muhammed, African Democratic Party; Cholli Yahaya, All Progressives Grand Alliance; Mustapha Madawaki, Labour Party; Mohammed Sa’ad, All Nigeria Peoples Party; and Ardo Umar of the Social Democratic Party, among others.
Similarly, the embattled senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East, Akpan Albert, will contest the governorship election in the state against the candidates of the PDP, LP, APGA and others.
Other senators are Haliru Jika, representing Bauchi Central on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party; Sandy Onor (Cross River Central, PDP), the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege (APC); Uba Sani (Kaduna Central, APC), Emmanuel Bwacha (Taraba South, APC), and Teslim Folarin (Oyo Central, APC.
Source: The Punch
