Gombe 2023: APC, PDP, NNPP in Guber Battle Royale
By Idris Umar Feta
The 2023 gubernatorial election in Gombe State will take place on 11 March 2023, to elect new a governor for ‘The Jewel of the Savannah’.
The major contenders are the incumbent governor Inuwa Yahaya of All Progressives Congress, APC, Alhaji Muhammadu Jibrin Barde of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and former House of Reps Member, Hon. Hamisu Mailantarki of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP.
There are 11 Local Government Areas, LGAs, in the state and this includes; Gombe, Billiri, Balanga, Kaltungo, Shomgom, Yemaltu/Deba, Nafada Bajoga, Kwami, Dukku, Funakaye and Akko.
Across the 11 LGAs, Politics Digest reveals how Gombe electorate will likely vote for their choice guber candidate and party, in less than two months from now.
Gombe:
This is the city where administrative activities of the Gombe State government are carried out. The incumbency factor will most likely play a role in making the APC become victorious. The government appointees will play an important role in campaign for the ruling party. In the previous elections, the party in power always wins the state capital, this year’s elections will be no different.
Though the PDP has always served as a threat, but with the emergence of NNPP, this threat has been greatly reduced with defection of members from the earlier to the latter, giving the APC a hitch free ride to victory.
Akko:
In the 2019 gubernatorial elections, the APC overwhelmed the major opposition party, the PDP. The present administration of Inuwa Yahaya took some major road construction and reconstruction of health care facilities within the local government; the electorate felt the impact of those constructions hence, keeping the APC on the white pages of Akko people.
With the above summation the opposition parties, the PDP and NNPP have little or no chance of upsetting the ruling APC.
Kwami:
Going by the 2019 election, Kwami is the stronghold of the PDP. Perhaps, the APC will find it difficult to defeat the PDP in its home ground. APC will snatch some votes from the PDP, but not really winning the local government. There are insignificant members of the NNPP, so this will not result to anything that will change the election result.
Another factor to the advantage of APC is the fact that the PDP has been out of power for about four years now, for to the main opposition to bounce back and defeat the ruling party will be a hard nut to crack.
Dukku:
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Though the NNPP and PDP will fight fiercely for votes in Dukku, the battle may not yield any desirable result for either party, because the APC won in the LGA the last time, and people without an iota of doubt have benefited from the massive construction of the incumbent governor. Dukku, as things stand, is already in the kitty of the APC.
Nafada/Bajoga:
Nafeda/Bajoga is a stronghold of the PDP. This is so as a result of the fact that PDP’s governorship candidate in the 2019 elections came from the area. Though he lost the election to the ruling APC and is not a candidate in this year’s poll, he will play a substantial role to see his party win the election.
Funakaye:
The voting pattern of the last election is what will be replicated in this year’s election. The APC got the major votes followed by the PDP, but the PDP has been depleted by the emergence of NNPP. The votes of the PDP will be split with NNPP, while that of the APC will remain intact.
Yemaltu/Deba:
This is a local government neighboring Akko, Balanga and Gombe and this local government is a strong base of the APC. The APC won massively in the local government.
I believed this year’s election will be no different; the ruling party will be victorious
Balanga/Tallase:
This LGA has been a strong base of the APC right from 2015 and 2019 election. The APC never loses any election for the party here. To compensate for their loyalty, the government had made sure the local government benefitted from the ongoing massive construction and other infrastructural developments within the state.
One cannot dismiss the NNPP candidate in the local government, but the APC has an upper hand of winning the election.
Billiri:
Another PDP base. Come rain come shine, the PDP will win anytime. Majority of the population of Billiri are Christians, who believe the PDP is a Christian party especially with the APC fielding a Muslim/Muslim ticket. They will most likely give their votes to the PDP.
There’s no sigh of Mailantarki’s NNPP in the local government, surprisely Obi’s Labour Party has a strong followers that will definitely reduced the PDP’s votes but the PDP will win. PDP won the previous elections held right from 1999-2019.
Shomgom:
Like Billiri, Shomgom is also another base of the PDP. But with the coming of the NNPP, who knows may things may change this time around.
Kaltungo:
APC has never lost an election in Kaltungo. But with the coming of the NNPP and fierce acceptability of the party, the hundred percent winning chance of the APC will be reduced.
PDP and NNPP are massively campaigning to capture the grass root.
Kaltungo will be a battle ground of the three major political parties.
