The presidential poll held over the weekend in Nigeria had come and gone with winners and losers emerging. But controversies have trailed its outcome. Despite the hundreds of millions of Dollars spent to get the general elections right the ugly ‘demons’ of the past reared its ugly head. In spite of the promises of the law enforcement agencies, hoodlums still hijacked ballot boxes and others used guns to intimidate voters. Vote-buying and rigging still occurred in many places!
According to Prof. Mahmood Yakubu the candidate of the misruling party Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, BAT polled a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 6,984,520 to emerge second. Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) came third with 6,101,533 votes. Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) garnered 1,496, 687 votes.
Prior to the official declaration of Asiwaju Tinubu as the victor his main opponents had dismissed the poll as a sham, and demanded for a rerun. Of course, there was a malfunction of the system of delivery electronically. There were challenges and irregularities around the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Results Viewing Portal (IReV).
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, had waded in by releasing a damning statement alleging corruption and compromise of the electoral process. He asked President Buhari to do the needful by intervening to save Nigeria from itself. ‘Baba’ alleged that the results of last Saturday’s presidential election had been doctored and manipulated, calling for some of them to be cancelled or fresh ones rescheduled.
Obasanjo could either be crying wolf because his prefered candidate was losing the election or he had a situation report we did not have, one that indicated a high-wire rigging of the poll by the ‘winner’ using millions of Dollars to bribe some INEC staff and promises of contract or whatever.
But despite these protests the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) went ahead to declare the winner in the wee hours of the morning. Indeed, there are grounds to suspect that the wishes of Nigerians were not reflected in the presidential election.
However, the election produced some surprises and shocks. Who could have imagined Peter Obi of the Labour Party defeating Asiwaju Tinubu in his Lagos den? Or Atiku Abubakar of the PDP defeating Tinubu and Buhari in Katsina? Or the ruling APC trumping the opposition PDP in stronghold states like Rivers?
The manipulative hands of the ‘Integrity Group’ led by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, could be blamed here. The division in the opposition PDP did not help its electoral cause or fortunes. Again, (and this is crucial) the Obi factor contributed immensely to the failure of the PDP to clinch the presidency.
If you put the total number of votes garnered by Obi together with the ones gotten by Atiku you can come to the conclusion that if Obi did not defect to the Labour Party and was chosen as Atiku’s running mate then the PDP would have won the election by landslide. So the Obi factor one way or the other split the PDP votes and gave undeserving advantage to the triumphant Lagos godfather.
By far democracy is the greatest beneficiary of this presidential poll with the emergence of a third force represented by Labour Party’s Obi. While Obi proved critics wrong he demonstrated his popularity in many states including Nasarawa, Plateau and Benue — non-Igbo-speaking states.
Now that the man accused rightly or wrongly of being a former drug lord in America, of suffering from dementia and fixing his age, names and academic credentials has decimated the opposition at the polls do we now rally behind Tinubu and transform his ‘Emilokannism’ (it is my turn) to ‘Awalokanism’ (it is our turn)?
Well, nothing is sure for now. We must await the next move of the defeated parties and their candidates going forward. If they decide to file petitions up to the Supreme Court armed with abundant evidence of electoral manipulation and dysfunctional transmission machines then the road to the Tinubu presidency might be a hard one.
The seeming triumph of the broom yet again in our national politics in a perilous time for our dear nation must be a sure source of sober reflection for many Nigerians, whether you voted for ‘Jagaban’, Obi or Atiku or Kwankwanso.
Wait a minute, how many votes did Comrade Omoyele Sowore get during the presidential poll? We had made it clear that for the SaharaReporters Publisher and notable human rights advocate to make any headway politically then he must align himself with an established national political force.
While we have our reservations, our legitimate concerns as regards the general organization and delivery by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) we hold that the will of the people must be made to prevail! If Tinubu is proven (beyond reasonable doubt) to be the choice of the majority of Nigerians then we are bound to concur!
But if otherwise happens to be the case then we call on the relevant authorities to rise to the occasion to right the perceived wrong. The Kenyan judiciary had courageously shown us the way!
While we are still at it we must not forget the mounting challenges of the present and the future facing our country, to wit: challenges of terrorism, of despair, of mass poverty, of unemployment and economic meltdown. Again the feeling of oppression and marginalisation by Biafrans must be assuaged going forward.
The next President, after all said and done, (whether Tinubu or not) must patriotically endeavour to make Nigeria work for Nigerians for once in our generation. If we get it right leadership-wise then every other thing will fall in line.
Besides, if Tinubu is proven judicially to have won the presidency fair and square it then follows a familiar pattern of the incumbency factor striking a low blow to the electoral system in order to deliver, aiding and abetting an electoral outcome Nigeriana.
Yet, beyond the controversies, hues and cries, here and there, two crucial points stick out. One, the much-deprecated Muslim/Muslim ticket of Tinubu and Shettima stands triumphant in memory of the late June 12 hero, Bashorun MKO Abiola.
Two, in spite of the woeful performance of the ruling party, Buharism et al, Nigerians voted Tinubu more for what he stands for and perhaps for his hyped gubernatorial performance in Lagos than the celebrated baggage trailing his every political move.
Now, given the situation on the ground the opposition must put its house in order going forward. The PDP ought to have bounced back to power but for the divided house and irreconcilable differences of some members and the leadership.
The APC arguably inflicted a whole lot of suffering on Nigerians yet Tinubu of the same underwhelming party convinced them otherwise to vote for him! Who knows, maybe his Dollars and new Naira notes spoke volume electorally!
Now that the presidential poll is over with an apparent victor emerging can we confidently say without contradiction that the people have spoken? Or that the best has won the electoral exercise?
Well, your guess is as good as ours! Suffice to say that we refuse to congratulate the victor for now! Until the controversies swirling around the poll are dealt with judiciously and expeditiously we may not, in true conscience, declare our total satisfaction with the outcome of the presidential poll.
Let the Supreme Court (and not ‘Cult’ as was the case with Gov. Hope Uzodinma and Senate President Ahmed Lawan) do justice to the matters outstanding and arising from the controversial Tinubu victory.
SOC Okenwa
soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr
