[b]Jonathan or Buhari—Are these the issues to decide the poll?

In the run up to an election, various issues might dominate the political space but only a few key ones tend to have any significant impact on voters to the extent that they influence how these would vote. Also, those issues which have a potential for influencing voters are often not static and could change severally between when electioneering began and when voting actually took place.

When he won the 1999 election, President Olusegun Obasanjo—who in Mandela’s absence appears to be Africa’s most visible statesman today—was essentially expected by voters to keep the country together, given the tendency of the country’s south-west to break away following the perceived injustice of the annulment of the 1993 election that was won by the late African business mogul and billionaire, MKO Abiola. He was also expected to lay the foundation of what would ultimately keep the military out of politics for good. In a rather unexpected turn of events, Obasanjo appeared to have indeed constrained the military, douse separatist tendencies, and by the time he left office, had also paid off the country’s external debt—which never even featured in any campaign manifesto!

The issues that tended to dominate the political space in the elections that have been held after Obasanjo’s exit often revolved around the poor quality of health care, growing unemployment and significantly embarrassing low power generation (which resulted in the shut down of many factories and contributed to worsening the unemployment situation). In the election that brought the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua to power, one more item made up the list drawn up above—Niger Delta militancy as it was then called. That militancy led to reduced oil production that, for a spell, saw Angola overtake Nigeria as Africa’s biggest producer.

With just a few days to go to Nigeria’s re-scheduled Presidential election being contested by incumbent Goodluck Jonathan and very strong contender Muhammadu Buhari, Gaskiya.net can authoritatively report that from its own investigations, analysis of the prevailing situation in that country and interviews with knowledgeable Nigerians and foreigners with good knowledge of the country, it would appear as if those issues that will decide who gains access to Africa’s most fortified State House—the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja—are the ones identified and discussed as follows:

· Security

(a) Threats to Nigeria’s sovereignty—the insurgents who have made life a harrowing hell for many in Nigeria’s north-east invariably re-wrote the manifesto of the two main political parties (the ruling People’s Democratic Party and the opposition All Progressives Congress), firmly inserting threats to the nation’s existence into them. By seemingly adding conventional warfare to their doctrine, they played into the hands of the Nigerian military and were decisively routed in several campaigns, after usually and briefly occupying some territories. The initial setbacks of the army gave way to better organised operational assaults against them and the government came back looking good. The resurgent military action assuaged Nigerians who had been terribly aghast at the seeming lack of an appropriate response by the authorities—military and civilian—to the insurgency. It is a plus for President Jonathan who has had to contend with Gen Buhari’s rising electoral profile boosted by the perception by many Nigerians that as a retired army chief, Buhari would better secure the country.[b][/b]

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Maybe

PHCN will certainly be one of them.
Billions spent by the successive PDP-led gov't with nothing to show for it.

The "word" change is now a very popular word in the
mouth of many people, and sincerely speaking, I love
change. But my question is, does the APC as a party
really understand the true meaning of the "word"
change? Americans preached change and presented
Obama (as the first black to ever rule America). What
has the APC brought to us? Fashola, Adams, Rochas,
Ameachi would have made more meaning to us, not
Buhari.
GEJ is certainly not the best as we all know that there
is no perfect human being on earth, but Buhari is not
an option, because he does not have the capacity to
change anything. The world we live can only be made
better with "brain" and "Biro" not with bullet and gun
which is what Buhari presents. Buhari is not just
uneducated, but he also does not have interest in
education. I say this with dew respect to him and his
age. Buhari left office over thirty years ago, yet in his
spare time, he never did anything to improve himself
educationally. Even OBJ after ruling for eight years
still went and improved himself. Nigerian Youths, pls
THINK!!! I say whatever I say without sentiment nor
biased mind, but through proper analysis of the
truth. Putting an old wine in a new bottle does not
make it a new wine... Nigerians please THINK!!!
Buhari is not the "change" we need, he's just hungry
for power. Talking about corruption, I have my doubts
about his sincerity too. Buhari is being sponsored by
one of the "most" corrupt leaders in Nigeria history;
Bola Ahmed Tinubu. How is he going to fight
corruption if he's been backed by such people. (I
know that many people are going react to this post,
and I'm waiting). Buhari in his first bid to elected as
ptesident in 2003, criticized OBJ as a corrupt leader,
and the same Buhari still claiming to be a "corruption
fighter" was bold enough to tell the world on CNN
that that same OBJ has endorsed him. Where is his
integrity?
I'll pause here, but let me add this: education does
not have a substitute, and I doubt if a man that is not
interested in self-education can provide for
another!!!

Nice epistle Bro, if pdp had given me light for just thee days non stop, I may never have asked for change.
Do actually think 16 years of darkness is not enough reason to ask for change?.
When people sees themselves as being opressed, its only human to fight for freedom or excape by any means possible.
Apc may not be the best set up for now, but they have not opress me for 16 good years, so my vote goes to the general.