Anxiety as Atiku, Tinubu, Obi lock horns today • How the candidates stand in Kano, Lagos, Rivers INEC forecloses any hitches

By Our Correspondent

Palpable anxiety has gripped supporters of the 18 presidential candidates that will be listed this morning on the ballot papers by the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, as Nigerians throng out to elect their next president.

Checks by Weekend Peoples Daily have indicated that the camps of the three frontline contestants-Atiku Abubakar of the opposition People Democracy Party, PDP; Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, and APC the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, particularly, are deep in apprehension over the possible outcomes of the presidential election.

Also, the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Rabiu Kwankwaso is still nursing hight optimism that he would pull a surprise at the polls today.

Thought the NNPP standard bearer does not seem to have the widespread support of the threesome, the party unarguably holds Kano as its major stronghold, leading to conclusions by politics watchers that the race in the state would be keenly contested with NNPP possibly garnering high chunk of the votes to be cast.

Already tension is at its peak in the most populous state in Northern Nigeria with APC and NNPP supports threatening a show down. Reports monitored in the state said the NNPP flag bearer was recently attacked in the state and fingers are pointing at APC supporters.

Pundits generally believe that the contest in Kano would be a reenactment of the 2019 duel between Kwankwaso and Governor Abdullahi Ganduje. The PDP under the leadership and high influence of of the Kwankasiyya Movement almost unseated Ganduje in the last governorship election in 2019.

Accordingly, the outcome of the presidential poll in Kano would be a popularity contest between the governor who is backing Tinubu and the NNPP presidential candidate, politic watchers have posited.

Governor Ganduje has severally sworn to deliver Kano to Tinubu. The governor who is at the twilight of his second and final tenure, according to analysts, would be relying on the power of incumbency to accomplish that ambition. But fears are being expressed that it may be an uphill task for him in view of the political sophistication of Kano voters who may not be easily swayed by the influence of the government house once their minds are made.

PDP’s Abubakar Atiku did comparatively well in Kano in 2019 with the help and support of Kwankwaso. Analysts believe that if the two politicians were to be working together in today’s elections, Kano would have been a done deal for the PDP candidate. It’s, however, being reasoned that that the votes PDP garnered in 2019 would be split between the duo of Atiku and Kwankwaso, and both of them are also expected to harvest from APC’s since President Buhari is not in the current race.

There have also been talks about the possibility of the two leaders working together ahead of today’s exercise but that suggestion may have been rested as the NNPP has been in constant denial of the rumoured deal.

Atiku’s camp, however, believes that

Kano is theirs for the taking because their candidate has more support base than the NNPP’s across the country, a consideration that may possibly condition the minds and decision of voters in the state. Besides, the PDP having seemingly lost ground to the G-5 governors led by Rivers’ Nyesome Wike seems determined to push for the best outing in Northwest states which have the highest number of registered voters-over 22 million.

The entry of LP’s Peter Obi into the presidential race has, no doubt, changed the political equation across the country and even party lines. The Anambra born politician remains the poster boy in the race as he has created waves with his unique campaign style of gathering mammoth crowd without “shishi” across the country.

Obi was equally favoured to make serious political inroads in Kano and snatch a good percentage of the over five million votes expected to be cast across the state today. Recent events in the state, however, suggests a decline in his fortunes in the state.

The Labour Party’s governorship ticket bearer, Engr Bashir Ishaq Bashir, last week withdrew his candidature in the guber race and reportedly collapsed his structures into the APC’s. That development has been described as a boost for the chances of the APC in both the presidential and governorship elections in Kano.

Analysts said it is left to be seen how Peter Obi can pull through the election in Kano in the absence of a governorship candidate for his party.

A source who spoke to our Correspondent from Kano at the time of doing this report asserted categorically that the action by Engr Bashir has finally nailed the coffin of the LP in the state.

Like Kano, Lagos is another key state where Atiku, Tinubu and Obi’s fate will be decided today. With over seven million registered voters, the state unarguably remains the beautiful bride in the presidential contest.

Analysts believe that Lagos is to