Nigeria votes in key gubernatorial, state assembly polls

April 11, 2015
ABUJA: Nigerians return to the polls on Saturday for gubernatorial and state assembly elections, two weeks after the country’s historic first opposition victory in the presidential race.

Polling stations open from 8am for the regional vote, which will be watched closely to see whether the opposition translates its national success into gains at the local level. Continue Reading


The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of President Goodluck Jonathan currently controls 21 of Nigeria’s 36 states. President-elect Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) has 14.

Only 29 states will have governorship elections because of mid-term polls held since 2011, while voting for the state assembly is in all 36.

Stakes are high, with state governors in Africa’s most populous nation in a powerful position controlling the purse strings in areas such as local health, education and infrastructure projects.

“The presidency is very distant from most Nigerians, so the governors are essentially the middle men between the presidency and the people on the ground,” said political commentator Chris Ngwodo.

“The governors actually have more direct impact on the people than the presidency,” he told AFP.

Buhari won the March 28 presidential election with 54 per cent of the vote, securing the first win for the opposition in the country’s history after a gripping and largely peaceful contest.

The 72-year-old campaigned on a slogan of “change,” breaking 16 years of unbroken PDP rule since civilian government was restored against a backdrop of mounting dissatisfaction with the government.

“I think the APC will win more states. It’s quite competitive in a number of places but with the results of the presidential election, one might expect a bandwagon effect in certain states,” said Ngwodo.

“The APC will definitely do better than expected because they have been able to win at a national level,” added Dawn Dimowo, from the africapractice consultancy.

“Knowing how Nigerian politics works, it tends to align to the centre.”

The interior ministry has shut Nigeria’s land borders until Sunday while national police are deploying more officers to potential flashpoints and imposed polling day restrictions on vehicles.