By Femi Bolaji

AFTER the governorship primaries of the political parties, Taraba State is set for a showdown  among three political gladiators for the top seat.

Incumbent Governor, Darius Ishaku, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will have to fight hard to retain his seat with familiar faces that know the dynamics of the state’s politics and politicking.

Darius Ishaku

The duo of former Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Aisha Alhassan, and former acting governor of the state, Sani Danladi, who both emerged as governorship candidates of United Democratic Party, UDP, and All Progressive Congress, APC, respectively, are hoping to alter the power of cohesion that the PDP has held in the state since the return to democracy in 1999.

In 2015, the battle was just between Ishaku and Alhassan. The entrance of Danladi into the race is a healthy development for Taraba polity.

Though, it is assumed that the Southern Zone where Ishaku comes from has to retain power in 2019 to complete its two terms for fairness and equity, as the Northern and Central zones have had  from 1999 till 2015 during the time of Jolly Nyame and Danbaba Suntai.

Ex-Minister of Women Affairs, Asha AlHassan

But some analysts are of the opinion that politics is a game of number and who has more votes wins the race.

Alhassan hails from the Northern Zone and almost won the seat in 2015. Since that push, she has spread her political tentacles in all the 16 local government areas of the state and she has large followership which places her in a vantage position to give the incumbent a run for his money.

She left the APC over what she termed as unjust treatment by the leadership of the party, which disqualified her at the screening, cleared 10 others including Sani Danladi who is now the party’s flag bearer.

This however necessitated her movement to less popular UDP which has little or no political relevance in the history of the state.

Danladi who was in acting capacity as governor of the state before the emergence of Ishaku in 2015 was also one of the key players in the success of the PDP against Alhassan.

Now that he is in the race, it will be a battle of survival among three familiar folks and power brokers.

How the candidates stand

Ishaku, PDP

The incumbent governor, Darius Ishaku has large supporters among members of the PDP which led to his emergence as the consensus candidate of the party ahead of the 2019 general election.

The PDP has never had it so easy in its gubernatorial primaries over the years unlike the last where no contender was recorded against Ishaku who got a maximum delegates vote of 1928 to win the party ticket.

His popularity and influence in the party as the political leader in the state were some of the things that paved way for him, which further strengthens his quest to return to the government house in 2019.

Danladi, APC

The emergence of Sani Danladi as the flag bearer of the APC has plunged the party into another set of crisis Though pronounced by the APC governorship election chairman, Sen. Emmanuel Ocheja as winner with 60, 629 votes, nine other aspirants jave rejected the result, and called for a fresh  primary.

Eight out of the 10 contenders for the APC ticket under the platform of Forum of Aspirants at a briefing revoked the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU signed by all aspirants prior to the primaries.

Also, Joel Ikenya who is not part of the group and first runner up in a swift reaction to Danladi’s victory rejected the outcome of the result, saying it was not a true reflection of the process.

Danladi, who seems to be unperturbed over the development told newsmen that “in every election there must be a winner and as you know this is an in-house affair which I will reconcile with other aspirants. They are all stakeholders in our party and their input is very vital to the success of our party in the 2019 general election.”

Alhassan, UDP

The former minister will be hoping to leverage on her political infrastructure over the years in the state. Alhassan who claimed to have moved from the APC with all executives of the party in the 168 wards of the party in the state to UDP, believes that her ambition would be actualized with her large followers.

Her political influence however made another governorship aspirant of the UDP, Abdul Razak Gidado back out of the race and she emerged unopposed after the party’s primary. She told the 224 delegates of the party in an address after the primary election: “I will work round the clock to ensure that our enemies are put to shame by winning the governorship election in Taraba in 2019.”