Hostilities resume across the 36 states today as the various political parties seek to reinforce their popularity in the governorship and state assembly elections.
At stake are 28 governorship seats and 993 state assembly slots.
Supplementary election into the National Assembly is also expected to be conducted in 15 states today.
The polls are coming three weeks after the presidential election won by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the National Assembly contest also won by the party.
The tension generated ahead of today’s polls snowballed into violence in Ibadan on Thursday when APC supporters clashed with those of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at Ile-Tuntun area of Ibadan South East Local Government. Three persons died in the clash.
The Abdulsalami Abubakar-led National Peace Committee called for calm ahead of the polls while expressing worries over ”open threats of intimidation and violence by certain elements within the society.”
Only 11 of the serving governors are seeking re-election today while the tenure of the remaining 17 will expire on May 29 upon the completion of the maximum two terms allowed by the constitution.
The governorship election will take place in Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.
That of Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun, and Ondo is ‘off-season’ but the state assembly polls will be conducted in all the states today.
Seeking re-election as governors are Adamu Fintiri (Adamawa), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Babagana Zulum (Borno), Muhammad Inuwa (Gombe), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun)Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara).
Observers believe that the governorship election will be particularly tough in Lagos, Kano, Rivers, Kaduna, Oyo, Delta, Enugu, Abia, Plateau, Gombe, Nasarawa and Cross River among others, in view of the upsets recorded in the states during the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.