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More surprises
emerged from the official list of candidates released by the
Independent National Electoral Commission yesterday when the names of
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and the
Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel were absent from the list.

The state’s
Resident Electoral Commissioner, Martins Okunfolami who confirmed this
also announced that Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, daughter of the former
President, Olusegun Obasanjo has qualified to contest for a seat in the
Senate. Mr Obasanjo has thus confirmed his supremacy in the state’s
politics.

Mr. Bankole lost to
Olusegun Alawode who is now the Peoples Democratic Party candidate to
the lower house of the National Assembly, while Mr. Daniel lost the
slot to contest for Senate to Muhammed Adetunji Toheeb. Lola
Abiola-Edewor, daughter of the late politician, Moshood Abiola lost to
Mrs Obasanjo-Bello.

Bankole’s chance

However, Mr.
Bankole may still be accommodated in the list, as the Olurin camp has
engineered an internal arrangement in which the candidate in Abeokuta
South, where he(Bankole) comes from, can step down for the speaker.
This opportunity is said to be possible under the electoral provision
which states that the name of a candidate can still be substituted
between now and February 15.

Gaffe

A bizarre twist was
added to the drama when it was discovered that the list of Niger State
House of Assembly candidates has been sent to Ogun State by the
electoral commission. This mistake was found when the Ogun State office
of the commission was collating its list. Mr Okunfolami said, ‘‘The
State Assembly candidates for Niger State was sent to me here, I just
connected with my colleague, I was thinking of faxing it to him, when I
told him, he said I should DHL it to him.’’

Later, when the
state’s authentic list was sent, Tunji Olurin was listed as the
governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while his
running mate is Tunde Oladunjoye, a journalist and former local
government chairman in the state. Ibikunle Amosun is the governorship
candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria {CAN}, and his deputy is Segun
Adesegun, a former Commissioner in the state. Also, a former deputy
governor under the administration of Olusegun Osoba, Sefiu Adegbenga
Kaka, was announced as the Senatorial candidate for the ACN in Ogun
East.

Phillip Umeadi, the
commission’s national commissioner in charge of legal affairs, had at
the weekend explained that the current list of candidates is not final
as substitutions may occur due to court orders and other reasons.

He added: “ If you
look at Section 31 of the Electoral Act, it says political parties
would submit to the INEC the particulars of candidate they intend to
sponsor for the election. They are not sponsoring them yet; it is just
an expression of intent.’’

Abacha’s luck

In Kano State,
Mohammed Abacha, son of the late military dictator emerged the
governorship candidate of the Congress for progressive Change. In the
party’s governorship primary election held last month, Mr. Abacha had
led in 21 of the 44 councils of the state with over 144,000 votes as
against 78,000 scored by Lawal Jafaru Isa his opponent who was a former
military administrator of Kaduna State.

However, the
party’s board of trustees in Abuja had submitted Mr. Isa’s name to the
INEC. At the display of Mr. Abacha’s name yesterday hundreds of youth
took to the street of Kano in jubilation. Some of them shouted the
praise of Attahiru Jega saying that he is a man of integrity who has
just proved that by declaring Mr. Abacha the winner of the governorship
primaries.

The Ekiti State
list shows that former governor of the state, Ayodele Fayose is to
contest the Ekiti Central Senatorial District under the banner of
Labour Party, while Kayode Alufa is candidate of the PDP. However,
against all expectations, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
presented Kolawole Olagunju as its candidate for Ekiti Central. The two
aspirants on the platform of the party, Babafemi Ojudu and Opeyemi
Bamidele, the two contenders were not listed.

The ACN had
witnessed protracted crisis over who to field among Mr. Ojudu, Dele
Alake former Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr
Bamidele and Bode Ola, who holds the post now. Mr. Ojudu in a telephone
interview claimed that Mr. Kolawole will fill a withdrawal form to
allow his (Ojudu) own name to be sent. A son-in-law to Bola Tinubu,
former governor of Lagos State, Mr Oye Ojo was listed as the candidate
for House of Representative in the Ekiti Central Federal Constituency 2.