Gen. Muhammadu Buhari started this year on
a very bright note. He was apparently the
most popular politician in the country at the
time the year started.
The hashtag #FeBuhari trended on social
media and a lot people got behind him
strongly.
It looked like he was in the lead to win the
upcoming election. Some issues have since come up this year that
could have diminished his goodwill and
derailed his campaign, but these issues seem
to have worked in his favour somehow, either
by strengthening his popularity or by
weakening his opponent’s popularity. It looks
like he now has an unassailable advantage
with just weeks to the big election.
Here are the five issues that have made Buhari
more popular this year.
1. The Articles
Last month, Charles Soludo wrote a story
condemning the Jonathan administration and
praising the Obasanjo adminstration as a
better one. He didn’t directly support Buhari or
APC in the story, but the story tacitly favoured
Buhari because it aligned with their position
concerning the government and the need for
change, which their campaign is based on. The
article and subsequent sequels generated some
controversy in the country and it was bad
publicity for the president whose rating was
already awful.
Apart from that, the foreign media have also
contributed to the election buildup. The
Economist magazine and the New York Times
each did a comparative story about Buhari and
Jonathan in which they hit the president hard
for his governance. For instance, The
Economist referred to Jonathan as an utter
failure and was heavily critical of the
president. They also criticised his opponent
and called him a former dictator who has
blood on his hands, but they favoured Buhari
over Jonathan. It bolstered support for Buhari
remarkably.
2. The Endorsements
Buhari got some endorsements this year from
important people. It looks like everyone who’s
who in the country wants to take a shot at the
president. This month Obasanjo reportedly
endorsed Buhari and it caused some trouble.
The resulting backlash from the PDP camp led
to Obasanjo’s withdrawing from the party.
Some people say it was the party that fired
him, but anyway the incident considerably
disfavoured the president and further drew
from his support. It was a sign that things
weren’t going well for his campaign team, and
it’s been to Buhari’s advantage ever since.
3. The Mudslinging
People from the PDP camp have been trying to
discredit Buhari on various bases. For
example, Femi Fani-Kayode and Fayose have
been trying to get people to believe Buhari is
sick. Fayose even put an ad out implying that
Buhari would die in office if he becomes
president. Then some people also called him
out and challenged him to produce his
certificate, suggesting he wasn’t academically
qualified to stand for president. They’ve also
tried to vilify him by referring to his past
record as a dictator. But despite all these, it’s
made Buhari supporters stauncher than ever.
4. The Broadcasts
AIT and NTA have been showing some paid
videos on their station this year, clearly aimed
to ruin Buhari’s image and portray him in the
worst way possible. One video features the
voice of a woman who was served the
maximum sentence under the Buhari regime
and showed old pictures of her kids, apparently
to provoke viewers against Buhari. But it’s not
working for most of those people who’ve
already decided to vote the former soldier, plus
it’s cast a shadow on the president’s sincerity
and has even brought those TV stations to
disrepute.
5. The Poll Shift
President Jonathan said he knew nothing
about INEC’s decision to move the election,
but some people thought his team engineered
the shift to buy him some more time to
reinforce.
The deferment is apparently paying off because
the army and its allied forces have since
launched a major offensive in the region, and
now it looks like they have the upper hand and
the insurgency has subsided. Perhaps it was a
good decision after all, but a lot of people
didn’t see it that way at first. They thought it
was a conspiracy, and it affected the
president’s rating badly in favour of Buhari.
It’s now five weeks to the election and the
buildup is starting to pick up again after the
lag that the poll shift caused. Buhari can
maintain his goodwill or Jonathan can turn it
around in the remaining time left. Either way,
what’s most important for the Nigerian people
is to have peace during and after the election.
Goodluck Jonathan is not doing very bad with
his campaign either. The incumbent president,
a few days ago, reminded Nigerians of reasons
why they should vote for him.

As the igbo would say: 'ha ne gbu achla o.ne toh!!

Nice effort OP.

Good analysis