Buhari versus Atiku: Battle of the year

In this first part of the piece, EMMANUEL OLADESU examined the significance of the 2019 presidential election. In this concluding part, he looks at the gaps in the critical exercise and how they can be tackled ahead of future polls.

 

There were no bandwagon effects across board. The final results did not fully influence the outcome of the governorship and House of Assembly elections on March 9. For example, In Edo and Ondo, where the PDP won the presidential election, the APC won the state parliamentary elections.

Around 4.39 am on February 27, four days after the poll, the results were announced. Buhari scored 15, 191, 847 votes (representing 56 percent).

He led in 19 states. Atiku got 11, 262, 978 votes (41 per cent), leading in 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

Therefore, INEC chairman and the Chief Returning Officer, affirmed the verdict, saying: “I Mahmud Yakubu, as the Chief Returning Officer, declare that Muhamadu Buhari, having satisfied the condition of the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared winner.”

There was jubilation in the APC. Hailing the outcome, Buhari said: “It is time to move forward as one cohesive body, putting behind us all bickering and potential distractions over an election in which Nigerians spoke clearly and resoundingly.” But, PDP immediately rejected the verdict, describing it as “a direct assault on the integrity of our country.”

The presidential and National Assembly elections were held simultaneously. Poll results showed some variations. Where many people voted for a particular presidential candidate in a polling unit, they made different choices while voting for senatorial and House of Representatives candidates.

According to observers, that voting behaviour could be related to the growth of political consciousness among Nigerians.

Predictably, the Northeast was a battle ground. The Waziri Adamawa asserted himself as a son of the soil by his impressive showing in Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, and Taraba.

In Yobe, which had been devastated by the Boko Haram onslaught, APC maintained a lead. Since 1999, PDP has never won Yobe.

The party leader, Bukar Ibrahim, and Governor Gaidam, who have reiterated their commitment to the president’s second term ambition, delivered victory to the APC.

A unity of purpose demonstrated by the Borno APC during its congresses and primaries under the leadership of former Governor Shetima Kashim.

That made the chapter a model in the Northeast. The only major force in the PDP, former Governor Modu Sheriff, former PDP national chairman, returned to collaborate with the governor. The president won.

In Bauchi, Speaker Dogara’s defection and the mishandling of the crisis in the chapter notwithstanding, APC defeated the PDP. But, the outcome was not influential on the voting behaviour during the governorship election.

The governor, Mohammed Abubakar, lost his second term bid to the former FCT minister, Senator Bala Mohammed of the PDP.

The PDP retained the Southeast and Southsouth as its stronghold. Key APC chieftains from the areas-Adams Oshiomhole, Godwin Obaseki, Rotimi Amaechi, Ovie Omo-Agege, Godswill Akpabio-could not deliver the zones to their party. After the poll, Oshiomhole and Obaseki have been locked in a curious battle of supremacy in Edo.

But, the president maintained a lead in the Northcentral and Northwest. In Southwest, Atiku made an in-road into Ondo and Oyo, where the APC chapters were polarised.

In fact, PDP later won the governorship poll in Oyo and some National Assembly seats in Oyo and Ondo.

President Buhari won in Bauchi, Borno. Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Ogun, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.

Atiku won in Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba and FCT.

After the poll, the battle shifted from the ballot box to the court. The legal fireworks provoked a special anxiety. At the tribunal, Atiku’s major complaints were that, based on the results in the INEC’s Central Computer Server, he had secured the highest number of votes.

He also argued that the president was not educationally qualified to run for the highest office because he did not have a secondary school certificate. Atiku proposed to present more than 60 witnesses. He was represented by 50 counsel, led by Dr. Livy Uzuokwu (SAN). Buhari’s lawyers were led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN).

Returning the legal salvos, Buhari said Atiku was not eligible to contest because he was not a Nigerian by birth, having been born in Jada, which was then part of Cameroon. INEC said its server was not working, thereby puncturing Atiku’s claim.

The tribunal rejected Atiku’s claims. “The petition is hereby dismissed in its entirety,” declared Justice Mohammed Garba on behalf of the five-member panel of justices. Reacting to the ruling, PDP described it as “provocative, barefaced subversion of justice.”

The case moved to the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Tanko Mohammed headed the panel of six justices. Dismissing the appeal, he said it lacked merit.

“We have examined all the briefs and the exhibits for over two weeks and we agree that there is no merit in this appeal,” he declared.

Justice John Okoro, who later elaborated on the reasons for dismissing it, said the PDP candidate failed to call credible witnesses, adding that the five witnesses presented relied on hearsay evidence. But, the apex court affirmed that Atiku is a Nigerian citizen.

Read Also: State Of The Nation: Buhari versus Atiku: How states will vote

 

The judgment brought to an end a bitter eight-month legal battle. Despite the initial apprehension and tension that engulfed the country during the contest and throughout the post-election litigation, the outcome of the poll, the people’s response to the results and the atmosphere of tranquillity that pervaded the country after the Supreme Court verdict underscored the essence, and indeed, the reality of progression towards democratic consolidation and political stability.

In retrospect, oil-rich Nigeria has had an uninterrupted 20 years of political stability, a far cry from its unenviable experience of intermittent stoppage of civilian administrations by restless and politically covetous soldiers.

Yet, the country still remained politically, religiously and ethnically divided. The presidential election was not a unifying factor.

Also, Nigeria’s relative stability has not been converted into a special advantage. The stability has not been accompanied by any significant economic success.

It seems there is more commitment to orderly transfer of power by stakeholders than the pursuit of far-reaching economic reforms that can catapult the beleaguered amalgamation of incompatible social formations into a huge economic miracle.

The poor voted in vain who cannot meet his personal needs of three square meals after elections.

On May 29, the euphoria of victory at the historic presidential election fizzled out in the face of monumental challenges of second term.

At the disposal of President Buhari are little assets and more liabilities-a disunity polity aptly torn apart by the battle for presidential power, a treasury ravaged by avaricious leadership, a depleted foreign reserve, huge foreign debt, soaring corruption by greedy actors, an army of jobless youths, dilapidated infrastructure, power outage, and insecurity.

Two issues were also thrown up by the elections. The first was the desirability of electronic voting, which will definitely reduce the burden of the electoral commission.

Many experts have suggested that it was long overdue. But, some have also urged caution, saying that it cannot be sustained by the current literacy level.

Instructively, many illiterates still came to the polling units with various kinds of receipts, which they mistaken for the Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs).

Two-time governor of Ogun State Aremo Olusegun Osoba said electronic voting is the answer, if Nigeria is to minimise electoral malpractices.

 

“We need to go electronic in voting in Nigeria because Ghana has gone electronic; Kenya has gone electronic. We have no excuse not to go digital in our electoral process. The day of analogue system is gone,” he maintained.

 

The second is the urgent need for a Special Electoral Offences Tribunal to try electoral offenders. Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu had disclosed that, with regard to electoral offences, 58 high profile arrests were made during the 2019 elections.

Recently, INEC has unfolded plans to approach the National Assembly with a bill in this regard. Yakubu’s special adviser Prof. Mohammed Kuna said it will reduce electoral impunity and ensure diligent prosecution of electoral offenders.

To the INEC boss, such a tribunal is non-negotiable, if the integrity of the electoral process is to be protected. Following the IGP’s statistics on electoral crime, Yakubu urged the National Assembly to come up with a legal framework to stem the tide. “I wish to renew the call for the establishment of the Electoral Offences Tribunal to ensure electoral sanity,” he said.