The long awaited Nigerian presidential elections has come and gone, and Nigeria has made history, since after 1999 there has never been a peaceful transition of power in Nigeria, never has an opposition unseated an incumbent president.
Kudos to INEC (Independent Electoral Commission) for their robust effort in making the 2015 presidential election free and fair; though the ruling party PDP (People’s Democratic Party) tried as much to distrupt the elections but it was sort of difficult. Here are some on the reasons why the ruling party lost the presidential elections:
- Inability to rig: Past elections has been categorized and ruined by rigging through inflating number of voter and hijacking of ballot boxes, but this time around INEC was very determined to curb this out the the great Nigerian public were very vigilant and keeping watch of their votes also with the introduction on the PVC (Permanent voters Card) and the electronic readers it was in a way difficult to say that a large number voted while only a few was accredited, INEC could easily reconcile the number of people that voted with those that were accredited to voted though there were still some discrepancies in some states.
- Insecurity: Under the present administration, the country has suffered a lot as a result of insecurity, at least one in every Nigeria directly or indirectly must have suffered from the numerous attacks by Boko Haram all over the country or other forms mishaps, and the government keeps mute and turns deaf ears to the plights of Nigerians.
- Economy and corruption: The country went to its lowest level of economic decline under this administration, the Nigerian Naira lost its value towards the U.S dollar, pounds and euros, unemployment and poverty sky rocketed to its highest peak even though the government claimed to have established many employment and poverty alleviation programs. Corruption became a thing of the day under a government that says that “we call ordinary stealing corruption”, trying to justify corrupt act by the government and claiming ignorance when money gets missing from government treasury.
Looking at all this factor, one does not expect many Nigerians who cast their votes of change to remain quiet and keep on being fooled, the ruling party PDP might still go to tribunals as this is the normal business of the day after Nigerian elections and as most of the PDP’s party heads are calling for cancellation of election results in states where they lost, but all these will be to no avail because the good people of Nigeria are now wiser and have made their final decision of change.
Congratulations to the Perennial candidate General Muhammadu Buhari, after three failed attempts toward the presidential seat, finally it comes through. Nigerians really expect him to deliver his promises especially starting from security and corruption. Hope he will transform his country as he claims and hope he loves his nation dearly as he says, hope he will be Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva of Brazil who also contested three times and lost but when he was finally given the chance in 2002 to lead his dear country, he made the best of it and he brought Brazil out of the shackles of poverty, and transformed Brazil to what it is today. Nigerians hope that the General will not only fight poverty in Nigeria, but once again restore that title of “The Giant of Africa” through a total overhauling and reconstruction.
President Goodluck Jonathan should also become commended so far at least for his statesmanship at this point, for conceding to defeat and deeming it fit to call his opponent who won and congratulate him. If he never left a known legacy all through his six years as a president, he left one when he made the call and he at least delivered his promise to Nigerians of a free and fair election.
The people of Nigeria have shown their love for democracy and now Nigeria can stand among the league of nations both the west and diaspora to boast of a free and fair election and democracy.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Daniel OPARA
