Borno State: 11 Candidates race for governorship seat

With less than 24 hours to the gubernatorial election in Borno state, a total of 11 candidates will be contesting for the governorship seat.

On Saturday, March 18, 2023 the people of Borno state in North-East Nigeria will elect their next governor and members of the State House of Assembly to serve them for the next four years – starting from 29 May.

The election which was postponed from its original 11 March date will be held three weeks after the Presidential and National Assembly Elections.

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Eleven parties nominated candidates for the governorship poll in Borno State.

However, only four candidates were visible during the campaigns, they are the incumbent governor, Babagana Zulum, who is seeking a second term under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mohammed Ali Jajari of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),

Ibrahim Mshelia of the Labour Party (LP) and Umar Alkali Nasco of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

The other names on the ballot paper include Babagana Buji of Action Alliance (AA); Alhaji Monguno of Action Democratic Party (ADP); Hassan Musa of Allied People’s Movement (APM), Abdulkadir Umar of Action People’s Party (APP) and Shettima Kakagoni for Boot Party (BP). Others are Umar Mustapha of the National Rescue Movement (NRM); Maigawa Muhammad of the People Redemption Party (PRP); Modu Abba, Social Democratic Party (SDP), and Fatima Abubakar, the only female in the race who is the candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The APC has won all elections in the state since 2015 when it emerged from a merger of the major opposition parties in Nigeria. In the general elections of 1999 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019, politicians under the current APC won the governorship elections in Borno with high margins. The PDP had always tagged along as the only opposition of note in Borno.

However, Saturday’s governorship and state legislative polls may not follow that established pattern of contest between the APC and PDP due to the emergence of other opposition parties in the state like Labour Party (LP) and New Nigeria’s People’s Party (NNPP).

PIAK