Nigeria, a country made up of 36 States and 774 Local Government Areas, operates a democratic system of government where citizens up to the age of 18, can elect their choice of leaders through an electoral process. These elections are usually conducted every four years as stated in the constitution.
For over 20 years, the national elections have been conducted by a body known as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
A Brief History of INEC
The origin of INEC can be traced to 1959, the period before independence. The electoral body in Nigeria started with the name, Electoral Commission of Nigeria (ECM). It was established for the purpose of conducting the upcoming 1959 election.
Subsequently, in 1960, the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) was established and was charged with the responsibility of conducting the post-independence elections of 1964 and 1965 at the federal and regional levels. FEDECO was later dissolved following the military coup of 1966.
In December 1995, another electoral body known as the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) was established. It was later dissolved with the establishment of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 1998 during the Abubakar administration. Till date, the INEC is responsible for carrying out Nigerian national elections.
2019 Gubernatorial Election
1) Abia State —Okezie Ikpeazu
Okezie Ikpeazu is the incumbent Governor of Abia state and a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He was the winner of the 2015 gubernatorial elections and ran for a second term in 2019 elections. He won Abia State 2019 election governorship election with a total of 261,127 votes in 17 LGAs of the state.
2) Adamawa State — Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri
Ahmadu Fintiri was a member of Adamawa State House of Assembly and was also a Speaker of the House. He was declared governor-elect of Adamawa after the supplementary election that was conducted in 44 pooling units across the 14 LGAs of the state. He is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He defeated the former Governor of Adamawa, Governor Jibrilla Bindow, by securing a total of 376,552 votes against Jribrilla Bindow’s 336,386 votes.
3) Akwa Ibom — Udom Gabriel Emmanuel
Udom Emmanuel became the governor of Akwa Ibom when he won the 2015 elections. He was re-elected for a second term in the 2019 gubernatorial election and defeated 44 other candidates by securing a total of 519,712 votes. He belongs to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
4) Anambra State — Willie Obiano
Charles Chukwuma Soludo became the governor of Anambra state when he won the gubernatorial election and was declared the winner by INEC on 9th November 2021. On the 13th of November, he was given the certificate of return and he assumed office on 17th March, 2022 as the fifth democratic governor of Anambra state.
He contested under the umbrella of the All Progressive Grand Alliance Party (APGA) and secured 112,229 votes.
His second runner-up, Valentine Ozigbo, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) got 53, 807 and the third Andy Uba, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) got 43,285 votes. His tenure would end in 2026.
5) Bauchi —Bala Mohammed
Bala Mohammed was formerly a minister of the Federal Capital Territory and contested in the March 23rd supplementary governorship election under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019. He won Bauchi State Governorship election with a total number of 515,113 votes.
6) Bayelsa State — Douye Diri
Douye Diri is the governor-elect of Bayelsa State. He is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and contested in the gubernatorial election of Bayelsa State which was held on 18th November, 2019. He won with a total of 143,172 votes. He will be sworn in as Governor on 14th February, 2020.
David Lyon of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was initially the governor-elect of Bayelsa with total votes 352, 552. However, he was sacked on 13th February 2020 by the Supreme Court of Nigeria on grounds that his running-mate submitted invalid certificates to INEC. The candidate with the second highest votes (Douye Diri) was declared winner of 2019 governorship election.
7) Benue State —Samuel Ortom
Samuel Ortom is a second term Governor. He first contested in Benue State April 2015 gubernatorial elections and won under the All Progressives Congress (APC). He ran for second term under the People’s Democracy Party (PDP) in 23rd March 2019 supplementary election and was re-elected. Ortom won with 434,473 votes.
8) Borno State —Babagana Umara Zulum
Professor Babagana was the pioneer commissioner for reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement in Borno. He won the 2019 elections with a total of 1,175,440 votes in Borno State under the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
9) Cross River —Benedict Bengioushuye Ayade
Benedict Ayade is the current governor of Cross River State and former Vice-chairman of the senate committee on Environmental and Ecology. He ran for gubernatorial elections in April 2015 and won. He contested again for governorship in March 2019 gubernatorial elections and was re-elected. He is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and won 2019 elections with a total of 381,484 votes. Ayade defected to APC on May 20, 2021.
10) Delta State —Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa
He is the incumbent Governor of Delta State. He became the Governor of Delta State when he won the 2015 gubernatorial election and was re-elected for a second term in March 2019. He is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). His political journey started when he became the secretary of the Ika Local Government Area and Chairman of Ika North-East Local Government. He won the 2019 gubernatorial election with a total of 925,274 votes.
11) Ebonyi State —David Umahi
He is the current Governor of Ebonyi State and a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) He was inaugurated into office as a Governor when he won the 2015 elections. He was re-elected as Governor of Ebonyi state in March 2019 governorship elections. He won in all the 13 LGAs of the state with total votes of 393,043. Mr Umahi defected to APC in November 17, 2020.
12) Edo State —Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki
He is the current Governor of Edo State and a member of the All Progressive Congress (APC). He was inaugurated into office as a Governor when he won the 2016 elections. He was re-elected as Governor of Edo state in 2020 governorship elections under People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He won with total votes of 307,955.
13) Ekiti State —Kayode Fayemi
He is the current Governor of Ekiti State and a member of the All Progressive Congress (APC). He was inaugurated into office as a Governor when he won the 2018 elections. He defeated 35 candidates of the state with total votes of 197,462.
14) Enugu State —Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwanyi
Popularly known as Gburugburu, he is the incumbent Governor of Enugu State. He contested in 2015 gubernatorial elections and won. He re-contested in 2019 gubernatorial election where he emerged the winner with a total of 449,935 votes in the 17 LGAs. He is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
15) Gombe State —Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya
He won Gombe State governorship election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He is a former Commissioner of Finance and Economic Development. He won the election with 364,179 votes.
16) Imo State —Hope Uzodinma
Hope Uzodinma is the current Governor of Imo State and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He was sworn in as the Governor on 15th January, 2020 after the Supreme Court nullified the election of Emeka Ihedioha and declared the appellant Hope Uzodinma, who was at fourth position with 96,458 votes, the winner of Imo State 2019 gubernatorial election.
17) Jigawa —Mohammed Badaru Abubakar
He is the present Governor of Jigawa State and currently the National President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture. He became the Governor of Jigawa State when he won the 2015 governorship elections. He was re-elected as governor of Jigawa State with a total of 810,933 votes in 2019 election.
18) Kaduna —Nasir El-Rufai
He is the incumbent Governor of Kaduna state and a member of the All Progressives Party (APC). He was formerly the Director General of Bureau of Public Enterprises and also served as minister of the Federal Capital Territory. He was inaugurated into office after he won the Kaduna 2015 governorship election. He was re-elected in 2019 with a total of 1,045,427 votes.
19) Kano State —Abdullahi Umar Ganduje
Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is the current Governor of Kano State and a member of APC. He came into office in 2015 after his victory in Kano State governorship election. He was re-elected for a second term in the supplementary election which was held on 23rd March, 2019. He won by 1,033,695 votes.
20) Katsina State —Aminu Bello Masari
He is the present Governor of Katsina State and a member of the All Progressives Party (APC). He was a speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives from 2003-2007. He was sworn in as Governor of Katsina State in 2015. He ran for a second term in March 2019 gubernatorial election and was re-elected with a total of 1,178,864 votes.
21) Kebbi —Abubakar Atiku Bagudu
Atiku Bagudu was first elected in 2015 after he won Kebbi State gubernatorial election. He re-contested in 2019 Kebbi State governorship election and won with 673,717 votes. He is a member of the All progressives Congress (APC).
22) Kogi —Yahaya Bello Adoza
Yahaya Bello Adoza was first elected in 2015 after he won Kogi State gubernatorial election. He was re-elected in 2019 Kogi State governorship election and won with 200,000 votes. He is the youngest serving governor in the whole state. He is a member of the All progressives Congress (APC).
23) Kwara State —Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq
He is the incumbent Governor of Kara State and a member of APC. He won Kwara 2019 governorship election with a total of 331,546 votes in all 16 local governments of Kwara State.
24) Lagos State —Babajide Sanwo-Olu
Sanwo-Olu is the incumbent Governor of Lagos state and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He emerged the winner of Lagos State 2019 governorship election with a total of 739,445 votes in all 20 LGAs of the state.
25) Nasarawa —Abdullahi Sule
He is the Governor of Nasarawa State. He was elected as the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and won 11 of 13 Nasarawa LGAs with a total of 327,229 votes.
26) Niger —Abubakar Sani Bello
He is the incumbent Governor of Niger State and a member of APC. He was the winner of 2015 Niger gubernatorial election and was re-elected in 2019 with a total of 526,412 votes.
27) Ogun State —Dapo Abiodun
He is the Governor of Ogun State and a member of All Progressives Congress (APC). He won Ogun State 2019 gubernatorial election in 11 of the 15 LGAs with 241,670 votes. He is the managing director of Heyden Petroleum as well as the founder of First Power Limited.
28) Ondo State —Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu
He is the Governor of Ondo State and a member of All Progressives Congress (APC). He won Ondo State 2017 gubernatorial election with 244,832 votes. He was re-elected in February 2021.
29) Osun State —Adegboyega Oyetola
Osun State had a gubernatorial election on July 16, 2022, to replace Gboyega Oyetola who had been nominated for the seat by All Progressives Congress. The incumbent lost the race to Ademola Adeleke a former Senator and nominee of the Peoples Democratic Party by 3.5% margin. Adeleke polled 403,371 votes whilst Oyetola 375,027.
30) Oyo State —Oluwaseyi Makinde
He is the Governor of Oyo State and a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He won 28 of 33 LGAs of the state with 515, 621 votes in 2019 Oyo governorship election.
31) Plateau State —Simon Lalong
Simon Lalong started off as a lawyer but later dropped his profession for politics. He became the Governor of Plateau State in 2015 after he won the gubernatorial election. He re-contested and won the 2019 supplementary election in 11 of 17 LGAs in Plateau with 595,582 votes. He is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
32) Rivers State —Ezenwo Nyesom Wike
Wike came into office in 2015 when he won Rivers State 2015 gubernatorial election. He was re-elected in April 2019 after Rivers State March 2019 governorship election was suspended. He won with 886,264 votes and is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
33) Sokoto —Aminu Waziri Tambuwal
He is the current Governor of Sokoto State and a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He was elected in 2015 as the Governor of Sokoto and was re-elected with a total of 512,002 votes from the 2019 Sokoto March 9th election and March 23rd supplementary election.
34) Taraba State —Darius Ishaku
He is the current Governor of Taraba State and a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He won the 2015 governorship elections and was re-elected in 2019 when he won 11 of 15 LGAs of the state with a total of 520,433 votes.
35) Yobe —Mai Mala Buni
Buni is the current Governor of Yobe state. He contested in Yobe State 2019 governorship election as a candidate of the All Progressives Congress and won with a total of 444,013 votes.
36) Zamfara —Bello Muhammad Matawalle
On 24 May 2019, the Supreme Court of Nigeria invalidated the participation of APC in 2019 National Assembly, the State House of Assembly and governorship elections in Zamfara State. This was because the party failed to conduct rancour-free primary elections which contravened the party’s constitution, the 1999 Constitution, and the Electoral Act.
APC candidate Muktar Idris, was initially the governor-elect of Zamfara State. He was declared the winner of Zamfara State governorship election with a total of 534,541 votes across the 14 LGAs in Zamfara State. The Supreme Court voided all votes cast for APC and ordered the candidate with the second highest votes to be sworn in as Governor of Zamfara State.
In light of this, Bello Muhammad Mutawalle of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 189,452, was declared the winner of the governorship election in Zamfara State. He later joined APC on June 29, 2021.