Nigeria’s 2015 presidential elections is one that will surely go a long way in the history of the country.
With only one day before Nigerians head for the polls, the political atmosphere is certainly getting hotter, and politicians are trying their best to get the votes of those undecided people.
As the politicians are making efforts to come out victorious in the upcoming elections, so is INEC also in tune to provide Nigerians with the best electoral process ever witnessed in Nigeria. Although we have 14 presidential candidates, only two look to be contesting for the position as the other parties don’t put efforts in campaigning for reasons best known to them.
Let’s take a look at the whole process so far;
Primaries
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP): The PDP’s Presidential primaries was a one man race, as Jonathan was the only one going for the position, after the controversial withdrawal of Jelil Tafawa Balewa, son of Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa, and Mrs Duke-Abiola, widow of late Moshood Abiola. On 10 December 2014, during PDP National convention at the Eagles Square, Abuja, Jonathan was validated as the parties flag bearer for the presidential elections. He also retained his vice-president, Namadi Sambo, to be his running mate.
All Progressives Congress (APC): The APC presidential primaries held on 10 December, 2014, at the parties National conference in Lagos state. Those who contested at the primaries includes Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Atiku Abubakar, Rochas Okorocha and Sam Nda Isaiah. At the end of the primary polls General Buhari won with 3,430 votes which was 57.9% of the total votes. Coming behind him was Kano state Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso with 974 votes (16.3%), followed by former Vice-president, Atiku Abubakar with 954 votes (15.9%), followed by Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha with 400 votes (10.4%) and the shock of the day, Leadership Newspaper publisher, Sam Nda Isaiah managing to get only 10 votes (0.2%), he wasn’t even around for the final score announcement. 7 days later on 17th of December, 2014, the party announced prof. YemI Osinbajo as General Buhari’s running mate.
Postponement
On February 8, 2015, six days to the original Presidential election date, INEC announced that due to the situation in the Northern part of Nigeria, and since the Armed forces could not guarantee the safety of INEC officials and the people, the commission had to postpone the elections for another six weeks, to give the armed forces more time to restore normality to the affected areas.
Campaigns
The two main parties have carried their campaign all around Nigeria. However the APC’s General Buhari and his team has been more physical in their campaigns, going from state to state, organising town-hall meetings and meeting with notable Nigerians. He also used other mediums like television, radio, newspapers and billboard adverts, but he focused more on meeting people physically. On the other hand PDP has done more of what I call telecampaigns, with his campaigns adverts running on almost all mediums available and it also started very early, even before he confirmed to be running for the post in 2014. He also organised some interactive sessions but he was mostly campaigning trough TV and Radio advertisements.
Both parties have relatively done well with their campaign organisation, but one aspects were they didn’t do well was with the speeches at their rallies. The APC tried to tell Nigerian what change they have to offer, however in-between their speeches some offensive words were thrown at PDP, which weren’t right, but the PDP were more guilty of the offence. At the beginning of their campaign they did nothing that to attack the personality of the APC’s candidate and kept raising irrelevant issues just to distract the opposition, after realising it didn’t work, they went back to talking about their achievements and agendas, which was what they should have been doing from the beginning.
Vote for my husband
As the saying goes, ‘ behind every successful man there is a woman’,the wives of leading candidates came out to affirm the statement. Wife of President Jonathan, Patience Jonathan and Aishat Buhari wife of General Buhari, went around Nigeria to campaign for their husbands, promising that their husbands will fulfil their promises. Patience Jonathan has however been widely criticised for some of her ‘provocative’ utterances and have been reported to the ICC for making inciting statements . Aishat Buhari was also in the spotlight for the wrong reasons as her words were twisted out of context, and it went viral that she referred to Edo women as ‘Prostitutes’. After a few investigations it was revealed that those claims were false.
Some Parties Against The Use Of Card Readers
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, disclosed that in a bid to prevent multiple voting and other forms of rigging, the commission will be using Smart Card Readers to authenticate cards during accreditation and to confirm that the person who presented the card is the rightful owner. However, some politicians kicked against its use, claiming that it could fail or could be manipulated. Nevertheless the commission has assured Nigerians that the card readers will not fail and even if it does, which is very unlikely, the commission has a Plan B to make sure the elections takes place. It has now been finalised that the machines will be used for the elections.
Jega Must Go!
Just as some politicians fought against the card readers, so did some people the APC said were ‘sponsored’ by the PDP, led by Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), took the streets of Lagos to protest against the INEC chairman, prof. Jega, and demanded his removal and replacement. Reasons given by them was that prof. Jega was not effective enough and that he was biased and favoured the APC. The protest yielded no fruit however as prof. Jega remained Chairman and is still the one leading the commission to the 2015 polls.
Violence
Both parties have had their fair share of violence, during this election season. The most controversial so far being the Okrika incident, when gunmen said to be ex-militants, stormed an APC rally in the first Lady’s home town, killing a policeman man and injuring several others. The APC came out to say they were sure it was PDP who masterminded the attack. The PDP also didn’t keep quite on the issue, as the media rep of President Goodluck Jonathan campaign organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, said it was the APC who planned the attack in order to rubbish the name of the First Lady. With all these experiences witnessed before the elections, one can only hope that there will be no post-elections violence.
INEC’s Readiness
According to the commission’s chairman, prof. Attahiru Jega, INEC is ready to give Nigeria the best elections ever. Materials to be used for the elections are in the country already and the collection of Permanent Voters Card is currently at about 82% which is good enough for a fair election.
On March 28, 2015, Nigerians will decide if they want continuity or change. Whichever one you are going for, exercise your right to the fullest, go out and vote based on your conscience and not sentiments. Do remember that so far the elections are free and fair, who ever wins, is the person Nigeria wants, and if you have a problem with the process instead of resorting to violence, take your case to court and let justice be done.
READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/410345-most-significant-things-that-happened-as-we-prepare-for-2015-elections.html
