After nearly 36 hours, former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari emerged the Presidential candidate of the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), for the forthcoming elections scheduled for February 14, 2015.
Buhari polled 3,430 votes to beat former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who polled 954 votes and Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso with 975 votes. It was a primaries in which the political irrelevance of Atiku, now known for political prostitution, jumping from one party to another, became too evident. Many had expected the former vice president to give Buhari a good fight but it turned out an anti-climax.
The other contestants were publisher of LEADERSHIP Newspapers Sam Nda-Isaiah who polled 10 votes and Imo state Governor Rochas Okorocha who polled 624 votes.
Atiku immediately conceded defeat by sending congratulatory message to General Buhari.
The final result was announced by the Chairman of the APC convention committee and immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.
With this result, the 2015 presidential election is now a straight fight between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and incumbent president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan who emerged the PDP flagbearer by consensus and Buhari, a repeat of the 2011 scenario.
Analysts say, however, that the odds stack gravely against Buhari who has been linked with the Boko Haram insurgency because of his previous comments, actions and inaction when the terror menace broke out and even till this day. Buhari’s spin doctors and the APC will find it extremely difficult to win over those who are pained by the scourge of terror.
Buhari is being sold as an anti-corruption crusader by his spin doctors would work hard to convince Nigerians that Buhari is really what he claims, being a member of a party that harbours the likes of Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, two politicians who, according to political watchers, do not flaunt any anti-corruption credential.
President Jonathan rode to power on the crest of sentiments spun by the shabby treatment meted to him by his former boss, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua and his cohorts in Aso Rock and the very fact that he is from a minority part of the nation, the south-south zone and more specifically an Ijaw son. He also came across to Nigerians as an ordinary man with a humble background, a story many Nigerians easily connected to.
With the unraveling of events, it appears the same sentiments plus performance will give Jonathan the edge. The APC as an opposition party was formed in bad faith, in the eyes of the people, to undo Jonathan. The inability of the party to offer intelligent and feasible alternatives to the policies of the PDP government tilts against them. The growing insecurity in the land has stuck to the party like a badge because of the incendiary remarks of some of its members before after the scourge of Boko Haram.
Respondents to Political Economist inquiries said a vote for APC is a vote for terror. This public perception weighs oddly against Buhari and may do him in at the polls. In recent years, especially the death of Yar’Adua and the inevitable emergence of Jonathan as president of Nigeria, the merchants of terror have continued to strike with vengeful precision in a manner clearly intended to short-sell Jonathan but this has rebounded with damning consequence against the APC which is largely seen as sympathetic of the terror group.
This is an area, insecurity, in which Jonathan is seen to be failing but political pundits insist that terror is a universal scourge and that Jonathan is doing his level best in the circumstance. An ill-equipped military which is a consequence of corruption in the military and the federal government managers over the years is the key reason why the nation has not been able to contain the terror. Jonathan apologists say it has nothing to do with Jonathan “because the corruption in the military predates his regime”.
Jonathan is seen to have the edge in terms of incumbency factor, infrastructure development, agriculture and youth empowerment, job creation among others which are the key areas where he has outperformed all his predecessors.
