Governorship contests that will shake 2019 While the 2019 presidential battle will dominate the country’s political fort, governorship battles across states will provide interesting scenarios Nigerians will not want to miss.

From Yusha’u A. Ibrahim (Kano), Lami Sadiq (Jos), Victor Edozie (Port Harcourt), Kabiru R. Anwar (Yola), Nurudeen Oyewole (Lagos), Jude Aguguo Owuamanam (Owerri), Jeremiah Oke (Ibadan), Hassan Ibrahim (Lafia) & Iniabasi Umo (Uyo)

Kano In Kano, the battle for the seat of governor is largely between Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who is seeking for a second term, and his predecessor, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, who is actually not vying for the seat but wants to uproot the incumbent and replace him with his son in-law, all in an effort to prove his domineering influence in Kano politics.

While Ganduje is the gubernatorial candidate for the ruling APC, Kwankwaso, on the other hand, has anointed his son in-law, Abba Yusuf as the flagbearer of the PDP to challenge Ganduje in the 2019 general elections.

However, other PDP gubernatorial aspirants are challenging the primary election that produced Yusuf, and the issue is still hanging on the neck of the national leadership of the party. It was gathered that the PDP national leadership is working hard to convince other spirants to accept Yusuf, a Kwankwasiyya anointed candidate as PDP flag-bearer at a time the Senator Mas’ud El-Jibril Doguwa-led led faction of the party has produced Malam Sagir Takai as its candidate.

But despite the internal wrangling within the PDP, Daily Trust on Sunday observe that the governorship race in Kano is purely a battle between Ganduje and Kwankwaso. While the former is putting more efforts to return for a second term, the latter is out to fight him.

According to political analysts, Kwankwaso purposely joined the PDP to achieve two things: Get the presidential ticket of the party and win and at the same time hijack the party in Kano in order to dislodge Ganduje. And now that he has lost out in the race for the presidency, he is all out to win the second race in Kano by proxy, not minding the consequences, because that is the only way he would remain politically relevant beyond 2019.

But happenings in the state suggest that unless the PDP is able to address the rancour among its members in the state, Governor Ganduje would most likely have an easy ride in the race come 2019.

Although many of Ganduje’s supporters considered Kwankwaso’s defection from the APC as a huge relief to the governor and his political associates, analysts argue that the anticipated political rumble between the two gladiators would provide an interesting scenario to watch. Adamawa Governorship candidates that will shake the terrain in Adamawa State include that of the PDP and former acting governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri; the ADC candidate, Senator Abdulaziz Nyako and Emmanuel Bello of the SDP.

With the emergence of Adamawa Governor Muhammadu Jibrilla as the flagbearer of the APC following an election that is still generating controversy, the political atmosphere remains uncertain as his opponents within the APC had already threatened to support one of the opposition parties should the APC national party fail to cancel the election.

Incumbency is the major factor that can help Jibrilla in the general elections.

Fintiri, the former acting governor nick-named ATM, is popular with civil servants for paying the controversial two months salaries of striking workers withheld by his predecessor due to a no-workno-pay policy in 2014 and is expected to pull more crowd than the incumbent governor.

Senator Abdulaziz, the son of former Governor Murtala Nyako, is counting on the goodwill of his father who enjoys grassroots support in the state. A retired commander and serving senator, Abdulaziz, has expended the membership base of the ADC since his defection from the APC.

Emmanuel Bello, the SDP candidate, may be one of the candidates to beat if Christians decide to give him block votes, being the only Christian among the four contending parties. Lagos The 2019 governorship election in Lagos State is no doubt shaping up to be a fierce contest between political gladiators, especially from the APC that already has Babajide

Sanwo-Olu as its gubernatorial candidate and the main opposition party, the PDP that has Jimi Agbaje as its candidate.

If anything, the political manoeuvring and power-play that heralded the emergence of both candidates from their respective parties have thus prepared the ground for a possible fierce contest in the general elections.

For instance, Sanwo-Olu’s emergence as against the muchexpected Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode had created a gulf of sorts among party members. Ambode had a running battle with his godfather, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (who incidentally is also SanwoOlu’s godfather), as well as party stalwarts. Although Ambode conceded defeat in a state-wide broadcast after the primary election, there are fears that some of his supporters who felt cheated might revolt during the general elections.

The Lagos State chapter of the PDP had largely operated without much rancour till the ticket was eventually given to Agbaje, instead of his main challenger, Deji Doherty.

Coupled with this is the perceived bad blood between the party’s leader in Lagos State and former PDP deputy chairman, South, Chief Olabode George and Agbaje. Both personalities enjoyed a cozy relationship ahead of the 2015 governorship election, which Agbaje narrowly lost to Ambode. Their relationship became strained when Agbaje also aspired to become the party’s national chairman when George had thought it would be a smooth sail for him. Nasarawa The battle for the 2019 governorship election in Nasarawa State would be the toughest contest in recent past because political permutations and interest, coupled with the struggle for power shift to the northern part of the state, would come together to make it very interesting.

All the major candidates come for the northern zone as 11 contestants from different political parties will slug it out for the single seat. However, the real contest will be between APC’s Abdullahi Adamu Sule,