The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is a major political party in Nigeria. PDP won every Presidential election between 1999 and 2011 and was the presidential political party until the 2015 elections. This article is about the outcome of the 2019 governorship elections for the People’s Democratic Party and the controversies that ensued after. Governors in Nigeria are elected for a term of four years and a maximum of two terms. Presently, the People’s Democratic Party controls 14 states out of the 36 states in Nigeria. Below is a list of PDP state governors, their respective deputy governors and the number of votes won by the PDP for each state at the 2019 governorship elections which were held on the 9th of March 2019 after postponement on the 2nd of March, 2019. The governorship elections were held in 29 of the 36 states of Nigeria.
List of PDP Governors & Their States
State: Abia State
Governor: Okezie Ikpeazu
Deputy Governor: Ude Oko Chukwu
Year of Election: 2019
Number of votes won: 261,127
State: Adamawa State
Governor: Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri
Deputy Governor: Crowther Seth
Year of Election: 2019
Number of votes won: 376,552
State: Akwa Ibom State
Governor: Udom Gabriel Emmanuel
Deputy Governor: Moses Ekpo
Year of Election: 2019
Number of votes won: 520,163
State: Bauchi State
Governor: Bala Muhammed
Deputy Governor: Baba Tela
Year of Election: 2019
Number of votes won: 515,113
State: Bayelsa State
Governor: Henry Dickson
Deputy Governor: Gboribiogha John
Year of Election: 2012
State: Benue State
Governor: Samuel Ortom
Deputy Governor: Benson Abounu
Year of Election: 2015
Number of votes won: 434,473
State: Cross River State
Governor: Benedict Ayade
Deputy Governor: Ivara Esu
Year of Election: 2019
Number of votes won: 381,484
State: Delta State
Governor: Ifeanyi Okowa
Deputy Governor: Kingsley Otuaro
Year of Election: 2019
Number of votes won: 925,274
State: Ebonyi State
Governor: Dave Umahi
Deputy Governor: Eric Kelechi Igwe
Year of Election: 2019
Number of votes won: 393,049
State: Enugu State
Governor: Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi
Deputy Governor: Cecilia Ezeilo
Year of Election: 2019
Number of votes won: 449,935
Year of Election: 2019
Number of votes won: 273,404
State: Oyo state
Governor: Oluwaseyi Makinde
Deputy Governor: Rauf Aderemi Olaniyan
Year of Election: 2019
Number of votes won: 515,621
State: Rivers State
Governor: Ezenwo Nyesom Wike
Deputy Governor: Ipalibo Banigo
Year of Election: 2019
Number of votes won: 886,264
State: Sokoto state
Governor: Aminu Waziri Tambuwal
Deputy Governor: Ahmed Aliyu
Year of Election: 2015
Number of votes won: 512,002
State: Taraba State
Governor: Darius Ishaku
Deputy Governor: Haruna Manu
Year of Election : 2019
Number of votes won: 520,433
State: Zamfara State
Governor: Bello Matawalle
Deputy Governor: Mahdi Aliyu Gusau
Year of Election: 2019
Number of votes won: 189,452
The result of the Zamfara state governorship election was taken to court after the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the All Progressive Congress as the winner. The Supreme Court ruled that the PDP governorship candidate, Bello Marawalle and his running mate, Mahdi Aliyu Gusau be returned as Governor-elect and Deputy governor-elect respectively.
Osun state, Ekiti state, Ondo state, Bayelsa state, Edo state, Kogi state, and Anambra State were left out in the governorship poll held on the 9th of March as their elections fell outside the election cycle. This is because the governorship elections of these states were held at different times or `offseason, either due to court judgments that nullified the election of their governors in the past.
In Osun State, the Peoples Democratic Party challenged the results of the election which declared Gboyega Oyetola as Governor of the State. Although the governorship election tribunal in Abuja declared Adeleke the winner, the Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the court of appeal and declared Gboyega Oyetola of APC the governor of Osun state.
Elections in Plateau state, Benue state, Adamawa state, Kano state, Sokoto state, and Bauchi state were declared inconclusive. Elections are declared inconclusive for only one reason when the number of canceled votes can mathematically affect the outcome of the election.
So, for instance, if the margin of victory between the first-placed candidate and the second-placed candidate is 100, the number of canceled votes cannot be any more than 99.
If the number exceeds this and is about 101, or higher, then the election will have to be declared inconclusive since the second-placed candidate could have won the election if all 101 canceled votes cast their votes for just that candidate.
The electoral process in Rivers state was suspended due to reported violence during the exercise but was later held on the 3rd of April, where the INEC declared that the incumbent governor, Nyesom Wike won the re-election.
History of the People’s Democratic Party leading up to the 2019 elections
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is a major political party in Nigeria. The PDP has won every Presidential election between 1999 and 2011 and was the presidential party until the 2015 elections and the governing party in the Fourth Republic except for a few cases when there were controversial electoral circumstances.
In February 2010, the Vice President, Good luck Ebele Jonathan unexpectedly became acting president due to the illness of the president at the time, Musa Yar’Adua. Jonathan was sworn into the presidency following Yar’Adua’s death in May.
When Jonathan announced his intention to run for president in the 2011 presidential election, there was much controversy even amongst the PDP party members. These controversies led into the PDP presidential primaries in January 2011.
However, Jonathan won a landslide victory over his closest challenger, Atiku Abubarkar who was a former vice president of Nigeria. This was in spite of the fact that his candidacy was a deviation from the party’s unofficial rotation policy. Jonathan also had considerable support in several of the northern states. Jonathan was victorious in the country’s 2011 presidential election, which was deemed largely free and fair by international observers.
However, as the 2015 elections grew closer, the long-time ruling party found itself in a weaker position. Several members of the PDP had left due to controversies and fights in the party. Not only that, Jonathan’s administration was under fire from the masses for various reasons such as these:
- Complaints about him not doing enough to combat corruption
- Complaints about him not eliminating the threat from the deadly Islamic insurgency led by Boko Haram in the north-eastern parts of the country
- Complaints about the non-improvement of general living conditions
In 2015, the APC chose a former military head of state, Muhammadu Buhari as the Presidential candidate and he won the presidential election. This signaled an end to the PDP’s grip on the Presidential seat since 1999. The PDP also did not win the majority of seats in the Senate House or House of Representatives.
President Muhammadu Buhari was announced as the President of Nigeria in the 2019 elections; however, the PDP rejected the outcome of the elections and have taken the case to court.