On Monday, the Independent Electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC) announced that gubernatorial elections in both Bayelsa and Kogi states of Nigeria will go ahead as planned, presenting the names of the candidates to the public. Kogi elections will hold on 21st November, 2015 while the Bayelsa elections have been slated for the 5th of December, 2015. 22 candidates will be contesting for the Governorship polls in Kogi state while 20 will be contesting in Bayelsa state.

All attention will be shifted towards the elections considering that apart from being conducted after the general elections in Nigeria, past Governors and sitting Governors are contesting against each other in these states. The elections are being conducted at this time as previous polls were cancelled by court authorities and fresh exercises had to be conducted, disrupting the usual election timetable in these states.

Kogi Elections

Kogi state incumbent Governor, Captain Idris Wada, who will be contesting again under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been accused of ineptitude in his tenure. Although he has not been directly linked to any corruption allegations, there have been reports of “non-payment of salaries, infrastructural decay and stagnation of government projects,” a clear reference to incompetence as a leader. Nigeria’s sitting Governors have immunity, therefore these allegations would not be investigated in the next four years if he wins the election, by which time the rot of incompetence might have festered.

However, the main opposition candidate, the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) Abubakar Audu is no stranger to controversy himself. He won the ticket to contest for the elections amidst prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), an anti-graft agency in Nigeria. He was accused of embezzling 11 billion Naira during his tenure as the Governor of Kogi state between 1999 and 2003. There have also been some rumours that his success during the primary elections of his party created some enemies for him, Chief among them, President Buhari.

The people of Kogi are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, and therefore have tough decisions to make in the next 3 weeks. Labour party candidate, Phillips Salawu could also give them a run for their money, or not.

Bayelsa Elections

Governor Dickson of Bayelsa state is contesting for second term as Governor. He was handpicked by ex-president Goodluck Jonathan (also an indigene of Bayelsa) as Governor of Bayelsa state in 2011. He has been accused of looting the state treasury. But even though Bayelsa is one of the states to receive high allocations from the federal Government, Dickson’s tenure has allegedly been filled with underdevelopment of infrastructure. Things got to a head in April 2015 when he allegedly led a gang of thugs into a court to disrupt proceedings.

His main opposition, Timipre Sylva of the APC is a former Governor of Bayelsa state. Despite a setback when he contested in the primaries of his party, he has come out stronger and is reportedly posing a threat to Governor Dickson’s re-election. Timipre Sylva also faces corruption charges levied against him by the EFCC. It has been reported that President Buhari plans to boycott both Sylva and Audu’s campaigns due to pending corruption charges. With 1000 APC members defecting to the PDP last week, Sylva may be forced to leave his bags unpacked after the polls.