Insight How Labour, SDP caused major upsets in February 25 elections

The February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections threw up major upsets that will be studied in institutions of higher learning in years to come.

Before the 2023 general elections, several political pundits had dismissed the Labour Party (LP) as a movement without a proper structure. However, their prediction seems to have been proven wrong going by the upsets caused by the party across the country.

But the LP is not the only political structure that caused upsets in the February 25 elections. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) also sprang some surprises, especially in areas that were generally regarded as the traditional strongholds of established political parties.

One of the major upsets witnessed on January 25 was the shocking victory of the LP in the presidential election in the entire South-East region. In 2011, 2015 and 2019 presidential elections, the PDP got majority votes in the South-East part of the country at the presidential and National Assembly elections. However this changed during this year’s elections as the region proved it was done with the PDP and had become one of the LP’s strongholds.

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Pundits told Dataphyte that this was not only determined by ethnicity but by issues of equity and justice.

“Peter Obi of the Labour Party is from the South-East region, but that is not the only factor that led to that,” said a former House of Representatives aspirant in Anambra State, Matthew Ibeabuchi.

“The region is silently angry with the promise of the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that he was their stepping stone to the presidency. Is presidency reserved only for Atiku and people from a certain part of the country?@ he asked, summing up the frustrations of the region.

“The PDP did not really bring much development to the region, so they had been searching for a credible alternative. The choice became easy when Peter Obi’s LP came on. Again, Obi was a credible alternative, so the decision was pretty easy. Apart from Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, I am too sure any former governor from the region would have got a lot of votes because of their perceived poor performance.

“Thirdly, there was a feeling of injustice and marginalisation in the region, So, the decision was not really difficult,” he noted.

The second shocker during the election was the victory of the LP in Edo and Cross River. In the previous presidential electons, the two states had been won by the PDP, but the LP ensured that this did not happen on February 25. The Cross River State is currently led by an APC governor, Professor Ben Ayade, but the LP shocked APC with victory at the presidential election in that state.

The third upset was the victory of the LP in Nasarawa and Plateau states where the APC had won in the 2019 presidential election.

The fourth major upset was the triumph of the LP in Delta, which is governed by the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP, Ifeanyi Okowa.

The fifth major upset was engineered by the APC, which was the loss of Taraba South senatorial bid by Governor Darius Ishaku, who was defeated by the APC’s David Jimkuta.

The sixth upset was Ishaku’s loss of his Takum Local Government Area to Peter Obi of the LP, meaning he could not deliver his local government to his party’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

The PDP also caused some upsets, one of which was Governor Ben Ayade’s loss of Cross River North senatorial bid to incumbent Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe of the PDP. The PDP also won the majority seats in the APC-dominated Kaduna State, grabbing the presidential election and all the senatorial seats in the state. The party also claimed 10 House of Reps seats in the state.

The eight major upset was Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s loss of Abia South senatorial election to Enyinnaya Abaribe of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

The ninth upset was Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s Enugu North senatorial defeat to the LP candidate, Okey Ezea.

The 10th major upset was the Governor Samuel Ortom’s loss of Benue North West Senatorial District to the APC counterpart, Titus Zam.

Another shocker was APC Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu’s loss of Nasarawa South Senatorial election to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) counterpart, Ahmed Wadada.

The 12th shocker was the PDP’s loss of all the House of Representatives and senatorial seats to the LP and the APGA in Anambra State. This has never happened since 1999 when Nigeria returned to democratic rule.

The 13th shocker was the LP’s victory in the presidential election in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, which has never happened since 1999.

Another upset was the victory of a motorcycle rider and candidate of the LP, Donatus Mathew, in the Kaura Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives in Southern Kaduna.

Based on the results of the legislative elections released so far by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Labour Party grabbed 34 House of Representatives and six senatorial seats.

The LP caused the most upset in February 25 elections with 60 percent, followed by the PDP and the APC which had 13.3 percent each. The SDP and the APGA got 6.7 percent each. However, the SDP’s upset was more pronounced given the calibre of the person involved, according to political watchers.

“I don’t see the LP as a party per say. It is a movement. People got tired of the lacklustre attitude of the APC and the PDP. The younger generation, including my children, told me to my face that they were voting for this new party,” said a chieftain of the PDP, Bode George, in an interview with The Punch.

A political analyst, Christiana, Okwor, told Dataphyte that politicians must learn from the upsets that the younger generation was angry with the mismanagement and misrule of the established political parties.

“So, in the next set of elections, you might see young parties defeating the major parties at all levels. You may also see a more experienced Labour Party by then even defending their votes in a way that it will be difficult for INEC or riggers to have a field day,” she said.