Usually, any year that precedes an election year is characterized by various memorable events.
2022 is no exception as the year can be termed as the election eve in Nigeria.
In this report, Political Correspondent Oluwakayode Banjo x-rays the major thrilling events in the country’s political landscape in 2022.
Being a year preceding the 2023 General Election, it did not take too long before 2022 began to witness controversies, tensions and thrilling activities in the political sphere.
As early as February, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2022 into law.
Section 84, sub-section 12 of the Act barred political appointees from voting or contesting at party primaries, hence, some political appointees, who had ambitions for elective positions were left with no option but to resign from their current offices.
In the following month, precisely on the 26th of March, over 7,000 delegates converged on Eagles Square, Abuja, for the All Progressives Congress, APC National Convention where a Serving Senator, Abdullahi Adamu emerged as the National Chairman of the party.
On the 25th of May, the 2019 Vice Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP and Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi dumped the party, barely three days to its Presidential convention.
5 days later, Mr Obi emerged as the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, a development many tagged as the birth of a “third force” in the Nation’s Presidential race.
On the 28th of same month, PDP held its Presidential convention and Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar emerged as the party’s Presidential Flag bearer, which was greeted with grievances, especially from one of the aspirants and current Rivers State Governor, Nyesome Wike.
After the PDP Presidential convention, Governor Wike led the call for the resignation of Mr Iyiochia Ayu as the party’s National Chairman with claims that both the Presidential Candidate and the National Chairman should not come from the same zone.
In the midst of this controversial tussle in the PDP fold, the Ruling APC staged its own Presidential convention which was also not devoid of controversies, even before the exercise took place on the 8th of June.
Prior to the convention, on the 2nd of June, the now popular slogan “Emi L’okan” hit the political waves when Former Governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in an outburst address at the Presidential Lodge in Abeokuta, Ogun state, declared that it was his turn to clinch the ticket.
Asiwaju Tinubu eventually won the ticket, defeating the likes of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Immediate Past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and many others to emerge as the APC Presidential candidate.
In Oyo state, however, the sitting Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde clinched the party’s ticket to run for a second term, while three-time Senator Teslim Folarin emerged as the Governorship candidate of the APC, a situation which led to the defection of Former Deputy Governor of CBN, Chief Bayo Adelabu and others to the Accord, where he became the Governorship flag bearer.
Also, in the year under review, Governorship elections were conducted in Ekiti and Osun states.
While Mr Biodun Oyebanji emerged as the Governor of Ekiti state, Senator Ademola Adeleke won the Gubernatorial election in Osun state.
On the 31st of July, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC suspended Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, while the collection of the Permanent Voter Cards, PVC, commenced on the 12th of this month.
Still with INEC, at least 8 offices of the commission in some states including Ogun, Osun, Imo, Ebonyi and Enugu were attacked.
Reviewing the year, a Political Scientist at Covenant University, Oya, Ogun state, Dr Moses Duruji said 2022 had truly set the tone for next year’s General elections, stressing that the electorates were optimistic that the elections would produce candidates of their choice.
Similarly, another Political Scientist, Dr Gbade Ojo pinpointed the agitation by the PDP G-5 Governors over the emergence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the party’s Presidential candidate.
Dr Ojo added that the year 2022 was a critical period in the Nation’s political circle.
Oluwakayode Banjo
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