BY SIMON REEF MUSA
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari, has finally polled 15,191,847 to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 11, 262,978 in the Saturday, February 23, 2019 presidential election.
Considering events and statements leading to the conduct of the poll, it amounted to a fantasy to hope that either of the candidates would take a cue from former President Goodluck Jonathan, who in 2015 reached out to his opponent through a telephone call and conceded defeat. Nigerians may witness one of the most acrimonious presidential polls ever conducted by Nigeria’s electoral umpire. Obvious signs of rancorous fireworks emerged early in the day with the two frontline presidential candidates setting the stage for a grueling and energy-sapping war trailing the likely poll’s outcome.
When on Election Day reporters asked President Buhari if he would concede defeat and congratulate his opponent if he did not clinch victory, Buhari had responded: “I will congratulate myself; I’m going to be the winner.”
On his part, the Wazirin Adamawa enthused: “My victory is sure. I am a democrat.” These responses by both Buhari and Atiku are foreboding of a done deal and what to expect from the camps of both frontline candidates over the now controversial outcome of the election.
Then reports came rolling in from party agents on alleged irregularities that trailed the polls’ conduct across the states. Apart from the technical glitches experienced in the use of smart card readers in many states, which left many potential voters in anguish and despair, led to the disenfranchisement of voters. The death toll of over 30 persons in the country, as confirmed from reports by the CSOs Situation Room, reveals the degree of desperation that trailed the February 23 polls.
In Rivers state alone, not only were more than 900,000 voters denied opportunity to exercise their civic duties, but elections could not hold in six local government councils of the state due to violence.
In Yobe state, among others, figures played a smart one on collation officers, as total numbers declared were more than accredited voters. In Lagos state, ballot papers were set ablaze by thugs, just as video clips/pictures inundated the social media showing the level of dexterity deployed by even electoral officers to compromise the election.
Similarly, bullion vans carrying large sums of money were seen at the home of the APC National Leader, Sen Bola Tinubu, raising fears of over vote-buying by the ruling party.
One of the spokesmen of the PDP, Mr. Osita Chidoka, has expressed bewilderment at the overwhelming numbers of voters in some states of the North-east that are experiencing insurgency. To ascertain the veracity of the of accreditation of voters using the card readers, Chidoka said his party has formally written to INEC demanding electronic data of accreditation by the card readers as promised by the electoral umpire.
Also, Director of Communication and Strategy for the APC’s Presidential Campaign Council, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN), refused to be cowed. He complained against the cancelation of result from a local council in Rivers where the APC reportedly polled 72,000.
However, in all these altercations by the two big parties, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, overruled the APC spokesman and advised him to formally send a letter of complaint on the matter, even as he had advised the PDP agent to direct the party’s protest letter appropriately to the Commission’s headquarters .
There is no doubt that February 23 polls were fraught with alleged wrongdoings that should be probed in order to fine tune the electoral process for an improved system going forward. We must not sweep allegations of irregularities under the carpet as usual, but encourage the interrogation of an electoral system that has not been embraced by majority of Nigerian citizens.
It is unfortunate that out of the over 72 million PVCs that were collected, less than 30 million voters turned up at the polls. Is this a sign of disillusionment on the part of potential voters or is there something in the system that discourages Nigerians from voting?
In working towards the resolution of the presidential poll, the winner of the election must be humbled in victory, just as the loser must place national interest far above his personal interest. The President-elect must as a matter of urgent national importance shun his perceived politics of exclusion and vengeance and ‘winners-take-it-all principle.
Nigeria is bleeding from disunity as agents of de-stabilisation are engaged in bloodshed and turning our nation into a cynosure of hair-rising barbarity. Our leaders owe both present and future generations the right to create a door of opportunity for all Nigerians, irrespective of socio-economic, ethnic, religious and political factor, and to be treated equally without discrimination.
With the Wazirin Adamawa and the opposition PDP already assembling a robust legal team to confront the President-elect and APC at the Tribunal, the Nigerian public is set to witness the commencement of fireworks that will throw-up so many ugly sides of 2019 presidential elections.
For now, the nation, with bated breath, awaits the next political moves by the gladiators.
