AA / Tunisia / Majdi Ismail
Nigerians will vote this Saturday to elect more than 900 state House of Assembly representatives as well as governorships for 28 of the 36 states that make up Africa’s most populous country. In other states, by-elections will be held at different intervals due to electoral disputes.
What is at stake in this election is crucial for the opposition as it seeks to prove its points in the February 25 presidential election.
To recall, the opposition was the first in Lagos, the country’s economic center, to vote in favor of Peter Obi of the Labor Party (LP) – also in Kano, the country’s second most populous city (North) – where the candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Rabiu Kwankaso, was leading.
On the other hand, Rivers State (South East) voted for Bola Tinubu during the presidential election.
Polling stations opened at 08:30 local time and will close at 14:30 (13:30 GMT).
The Lagos gubernatorial election promises to be the tightest between incumbent Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria’s ruling party, and candidate Gbadebo Rhodes-Wiwuri of the Labor Party (LP). Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Olajide Adedirani.
Most of the states are currently ruled by APC or PDP, only Anambra State (South East) is ruled by another party, AGPA (All Progressive Grand Alliance).
In the February 25 presidential election, Bola Tinubu won 8.7 million votes, ahead of his main rivals, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP who got 6.9 million votes and Peter Obi of the LP who got 6.1 million votes.
But Nigeria’s two main opposition parties, the LP and the PDP, called for the vote to be canceled and condemned “rigging and manipulation”.
Source: AA
