By Ibrahim Habu Suleiman
The Presidential and National Assembly elections rescheduled for February 23 have come and gone leaving behind the generally mixed grill of views and opinions regarding the success or otherwise of the exercise. Indeed the generally smooth conduct of the elections with only exceptional cases of violence in a few states of the federation is a testimony that the exercise was generally a success. From the utterances of the president it appears all hands are on deck to ensure that the forthcoming governorship and houses of assembly elections would even be more peaceful, free and fair as ever before.
Nevertheless, even as Nigerians waited for official announcement of the results by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC the social media was replete with all sorts of fake and opinionated results of the polls. Apparently, the national electoral body had sounded serious warning against anyone caught violating the electoral act, especially those in the habit of circulating fake and unofficial results of severe consequences. The evil intentions of those circulating fake news about the outcome of the polls found solace in the already susceptible minds bent upon fomenting trouble in order to achieve their objectives. For this category of individuals, the thoughts of nationhood or patriotism are very remote indeed as they pontificate in self glorification and avarice.
The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmud Yakubu eventually announced the the result of the presidential election on Tuesday, February 26 sending APC members, their supporters and the who’s who in the ruling party into a frenzy. President Muhammadu Buhari won the election having polled 15, 191, 847 to beat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar, Wazirin Adamawa, who polled 11, 262, 978. APC also secured 25% votes and above in 33 states and the FCT as required by law. The lead difference between the APC and the PDP is 3, 928, 869 over the PDP. Therefore, President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC secured an unassailable victory ahead of the PDP’s Atiku Abubakar. That’s fair and square.
Unfortunately, the PDP has chosen to drag the whole issue, blowing it completely out of proportion. The defeated presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar has since been gamboling from pillar to post alleging that the ruling APC has rigged the election across the states of the federation. It would have sufficed in the interest of peace and democracy for the opposition party to simply declare that it would follow due process by heading to court to seek justice instead of trying to whip up sentiment by describing the February 23, 2019 presidential election as the worst in history and declaring their candidate as the winner of the election. This smacks of some prearranged strategem geared towards causing confusion capable of throwing our nascent democracy decades back to the days of uncertainties of the 70’s and 80’s when the military held sway. Moreover, the international community (including the US, EU and the UK ) have unanimously endorsed the reelection of PMB. It is sad to hear that the defeated PDP presidential candidate even kept referring to himself as a true democrat!
To begin with, Atiku Abubakar is (at least) supposed to be a Fulani man from Jada in Adamawa State and above all a Muslim. Similarly, President Buhari is equally a Muslim and a Fulani from Daura in Katsina State. Apart from being all Nigerians, they come from the Muslim North and of the same Fulani stock. So one would wonder why Atiku decided to contest for the presidency in the first place if he had no faith in the electoral process. This is not the first time he has contested in an election – for the president; it is perhaps the fifth time in his political carrier. One would have thought that he would have borrowed a leaf from the experience of the former president Goodluck Jonathan, who in 2015 called his rival on phone, then General Muhammadu Buhari (retired) of the APC to congratulate him on his victory even before the official announcement of the results. That earned the former president international acclaim as a real democrat. Is the former vice president trying to obfuscate his kleptomanic past, when he was in charge of the privatisation exercise of government-owned companies during the Obasanjo/Atiku era, etc? Or is he covering up for his fellow looters who had spirited away $16billion (not naira) under the guise of making power supply better for Nigerians?
At any rate, Atiku and his camp of the Looters International should realise that for a hundred years to come they would struggle but in vain to hoist their artikulooted friend in power, because the masses of the population are wiser and know their true friends and their real foes. Certainly he belongs to the latter – at least, so the polls say. Former president Jonathan’s decision to embrace Muhammadu Buhari after accepting defeat was not a sign of weakness, it was patriotism laced with the real democratic spirit. Of course, if Waziri wants to go to court, nobody is stopping him. He would not be the first nor the last to do so. However, just as the masses of the electorate were victorious at the polls, so will they certainly win at the court, in sha Allah.
It is equally pertinent to note that PMB in his first tenure has achieved a great deal with comparatively lesser resources at his disposal. His achievements which include massive infrastructural development across the length and breadth of the country through the construction of roads and modern railroads; his unprecedented war against corruption in spite of the efforts of the looters in fighting back and his efforts at rolling back the menace of Boko Haram insurgency, which had hoisted their flags in 17 states of the north east at the time he took over in 2015 speak for themselves. What’s more, PMB has reassured that he would not abuse the trust reposed in him, which was a refrain during the last Presidential campaign across the nation.
In Nasarawa State we have no reason to believe in the contrary. We have enjoyed a major of security which was virtually non existent during the Goodluck Jonathan tenure. Apart from pockets of herders-farmers skirmishes spilling over from neighbouring states, Nasarawa enjoyed relative peace. In fact even supporters of some major opposition parties in the state have been singing praises of President Buhari and their calls of Sai Baba! were everywhere before and after the February 23, Presidential polls. All that made certain the president and the APC won in the state.
Nevertheless, in order to ensure that Baba Buhari’s victory at the national level makes the desired impact in the state, there is the need for the entire electorate to come out en masse for the March 9 Governorship and House of Assembly elections. This will not only ensure that APC is voted from top to bottom, but also that the masses of the population benefited more from the change that would continue at the Next Level.