Nigeria's 2015 Presidential Candidates .....

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has released the names 

of the presidential candidates and their running mates who will contest the 2015 elections.

Although there are 26 registered political parties in Nigeria, only 11 have 

submitted names of candidates to run for the presidency.

Of all the 11 candidates, only Jonathan and Buhari were candidates in the last

 election in 2011.

Party	Acronym	Presidential Candidate	Running Mate
Hope Democratic Party	HDP	Ambrose Albert	Haruna Shaba
United Progressive Party	UPP	Chekwas Okorie	Bello Umar
Allied Congress Party of Nigeria	ACPN	Ganiyu Galadima	Balarabe Ahmed
United Democratic Party	UDP	Godson Okoye	Haruna Adamu
All Progressives Grand Alliance	APGA	Goodluck Jonathan	Namadi Sambo
Labour Party	LP	Goodluck Jonathan	Namadi Sambo
Peoples Democratic Party	PDP	Goodluck Jonathan	Namadi Sambo
National Conscience Party	NCP	Martin Onovo	Ibrahim Mohammed
All Progressives Congress	APC	Muhammadu Buhari	Yemi Osinbajo
African Democratic Congress	ADC	Nani Ibrahim Ahmad	Obianuju Murphy-Uzohue
Kowa Party	KP	Oluremi Sonaiya	Saidu Bobboi
Alliance for Democracy	AD	Rafiu Salau	Clinton Cliff Akuchie
Action Alliance	AA	Tunde Anifowoshe-Kelani	Paul Ishaka Ofomile

The media hysteria about Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, 

candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives 

Congress (APC), respectively, is such that the average Nigerian could be misled

 into summing up the February 14, 2015election as a duel. But this is not a in 

any way a two-way PDP-APC race. There are, in fact, nine other Nigerians who 

are hoping to become president of the country in May 2015. They may not hold

 public attention in the same manner as the two front-runners, but ask them 

where they see themselves in another six months, and they would say nothing 

but Aso Rock.

These nine other Nigerians are:

 OLUREMI SONAIYA (KOWA) 

Oluremi Sonaiya Oluremi Sonaiya, a professor of French and applied linguistics, 

is the only female running for the presidency. She is running on the platform of 

Kowa Party. The 59-year-old is the first Nigerian to be appointed as Ambassador

 Scientist of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, a position she occupied 

from 2008 to 2014. Until it stopped publishing, Sonaiya was a blogger for 234 

Next. She is currently a columnist with The Niche, a weekly (Sunday) newspaper. A devout Christian, she believes “frankly” that an ordinary person like her is 

needed to run the affairs of the nation as a true representative of the people.

 “I am running based on the strong conviction that somebody needed to do this 

– I mean somebody ordinary, a true representative of the people,” she revealed in her mission statement.

CHEKWAS OKORIE (UPP)

 Chekwas Okorie Chekwas Okorie is the pioneer national chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP), which he co-founded after his departure from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), one other party he co-founded. An 

influential chief in Abia state, Okorie was a bosom friend of late Biafra leader Odimegwu Ojukwu, and is expected to have the support of many lovers of the

 late lieutenant colonel.

TUNDE ANIFOWOSE-KELANI (AA)

 Tunde Anifowose-Kelani Tunde Anifowose-Kelani is currently the managing 

director and chairman of Siegener Sabithos Nigeria Limited, a provider of 

secretarial services, communication services, support, training, counselling and

 courier services in and outside the country. Anifowose-Kelani, who holds a 

bachelor degree in personnel psychology and counselling, and another Master’s

 in personnel psychology, was chairman of his party, Action Alliance. He would

 be representing the party at the 2015 presidential poll.

GANIYU GALADIMA (ACPN) 

Ganiyu Galadima, the national chairman of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria 

(ACPN), was ratified as the party’s presidential acndidate by the party’s 

delegates at a convention held in Abuja earlier in the month. Galadima is a 

muslim who believes “strongly in the need to end impunity in Nigeria”. 

Galadima’s ACNP once moved for the prosecution of Transformation 

Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), who the party believed has been canvassing 

votes for Jonathan all along, against the dictates of the electoral law.

 RAFIU SALAU (AD) 

Rafiu Salau Rafiu Salau is the national secretary of the Alliance for Democracy.

 He believes that he is “the best candidate” for the 2015 presidential election. 

“I’m the best candidate because I know the feelings of the people better than

 any presidential candidate. I am also better than President Goodluck Jonathan,

” he said. “I know the solutions to the nation’s problems. I know the type of 

economy Nigeria needs to survive and succeed. I know how to make our nation

 be the first in Africa. “To expand the economy, 30 per cent of the oil revenue 

shall be used for capital goods for development of businesses that will ensure

 economic growth. “The population of unemployed Nigerians is more than many developed countries. To solve the problem of unemployment in Nigeria, every 

state shall have industrial city. And a state shall be created for the unemployed Nigerians. Developing the economy of the state will create jobs for them.” 

He also believes that driving the economy to a world-class standard requires 50

 per cent of revenue generation from personal income tax.

GODSON OKOYE 

(UDP) GodsonOkoye Godson Okoye is a lawyer who contested the Anambra gubernatorial election in 2010 and came fourth despite running on the platform

 of a nascent political party, United Democratic Party (UDP). He re-contested in

 2013 and performed poorly, polling just 153 votes to come out as the aspirant

 with the least number of votes. He is one of those who believe in a power shift

 to the younger generation of Nigerians. He would be running on the same 

platform through which he contested the 2007 and 2011 elections. He “believes

 strongly in change in all key sectors in Nigeria”.

 MARTIN ONOVO (NCP) 

Martin Onovo is an engineer by training. He graduated from the University of

Ibadan and the University of Houston. In 2011, he contested for the 

presidency under the platform of Action Alliance (AA). However, this time, 

he is running on the ticket of the late Gani Fawehinmi’s National Conscience 

Party (NCP). His belief is that the opposition (APC) is nothing but the same as 

the ruling PDP, and that he is the right man to solve the myriads of problem 

facing the country and collective commonweal. Onovo is member of the Nigerian

 Society of Engineers. Little is known of Ambrose Albert, candidate of Hope 

Democratic Party (HDP) and Nani Ibrahim Ahmad, who will be running on the

 ticket of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).