The year 2023 will remain indelible in the political landscape of Nigeria due to several events including the Presidential, Governorship, National and State Assembly Elections, the litigations that followed, the off-season Elections, Godfatherism and War of Succession in Nigerian politics.
Here are the major political talking points in the year.
The Presidential Election and litigations
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC declared Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress as winner of the nation’s Presidential Election held on February 25.
The two closest challengers to Asiwaju Tinubu, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Mr Peter Obi of Labour Party decided to go to Court.
Both of them lost at the Tribunal and ultimately at the Supreme Court.
Adamawa Governorship Poll
Of all the Governorship elections held on March 18, that of Adamawa State suddenly assumed notorious dimension when the State Resident Electoral Commissioner decided to add his own “flavour”.
Counting of votes was still on-going in some parts of the state when the REC took advantage of his position to announce a result which was later discovered to be fake.
He initially went into hiding but has since been arrested and is now facing prosecution.
Interesting Intrigues surrounding Senate Presidency and House of Representatives Leadership .
The race to occupy leadership positions in the Senate and House of Representatives was so fierce that some lawmakers who later lost their seats claimed it was due to where they aligned during the struggle.
El-Rufai denied Ministerial position
Despite widespread expectation and appearance at the Senate, former Kaduna Governor, Nasir El-Rufai was not eventually appointed as a Minister.
He was reported to have failed security clearance test.
Off-season Elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states
Governors Duoye Diri of PDP and Hope Uzodinma of APC retained their seats in Bayelsa and Imo while Ahmed Ododo was freshly elected as Governor of Kogi State.
Nullification of elections of some State Governors .
The elections which produced Governors of Zamfara, Plateau and Kano States were nullified by Appeal Courts sitting in different locations across the country.
The cases have not been decided by the Supreme Court.
Obaseki/Shaibu’s issue in Edo State
This is basically a war of succession.
Ayedatiwa/Akeredolu in Ondo State
Another war of succession, but this one is caused by the failing health of the Governor.
Wike/Fubara in Rivers State
This is a case of “Godfather” not ready to let go, and “Godson” trying to stamp his authority.
No doubt, some of these issues have been resolved, others are yet to go completely while others will rear their heads in 2024.
