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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / The Tortuous Road To Victory. (500 Views)
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The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:26pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
Gen Muhammadu Buhari probably scaled fewer hurdles throughout the 24 years that his military career lasted than the ones he was made to scale between October 2014 and last Saturday. Deputy News Editor Bunmi Ogunmodede captures the bumps that were placed before the President- elect to frustrate him out of the race. The road to victory for the All Progressives Congress (APC) was tortuous. There were landmines from the formation of the party to the polls which eventually held last Saturday. It took the opposition forces in the three parties that passed for regional movements to come together under the APC to give the self-acclaimed largest party in Africa the challenge. The parties, now defunct are: the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) as well as a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), led by Imo State Governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha. |
Re: The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:27pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
Registration bumps An amorphous group laid claim to the APC franchise and approached the court to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from registering the new party. The association claimed both the name and the logo belonged to it. But the APC under the interim chairmanship of Chief Bisi Akande convinced the court that INEC had no such name and logo in its records when the party approached it for registration. The court declined the prayer of the association and INEC eventually listed APC in its register of political parties. As soon as it secured INEC’s Certificate of Registration, the APC became a platform for the opposition – some genuine, others fair-weather politicians and many strange bird fellows. |
Re: The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:27pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
The Abuja Convention The Convention which at the Eagle Square, Abuja where the party elected its officials forced the spies and fifth columnists to leave the same way they came into the party. They were bitter that they failed to clinch vital party positions. For instance, former Foreign Affairs Minister Chief Tom Ikimi returned to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after his kinsman, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun, clinched the APC chairmanship. Though Ikimi alleged that he was being treated as an outsider in the party he helped to form, the party said it was risky to give those it described as moles leadership positions. Former Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sherrif also defected to the PDP. But the victory of the APC at the presidential and National Assembly elections has clearly showed that the exit of some characters was of no political consequence on the APC. |
Re: The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:28pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
The Lagos Convention The belief was that the APC would go into extinction after its National Convention at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos. But the process that led to the emergence of Gen Muhammadu Buhari, a former Head of State, as the party’s standard bearer for the presidential election, further united all the contenders in line with the undertaking they had signed to rally support for whoever emerged as long as the process was transparent. |
Re: The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:29pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
Running mate It took the APC six clear days after it picked Gen. Buhari to name Prof Olayemi Osinbajo as his running mate. The choice of Osinbajo, a law teacher and a Senior Pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) unsettled the ruling party. Osinbajo laid to rest speculations that the APC would pair Muslims on its ticket. |
Re: The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:30pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
Religion The APC presidential candidate was labelled a jihadist who will drag Nigeria into the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), if elected. He was portrayed as a religion bigot who has a soft spot for Islamic militants. But the stain failed to stick. His driver and cook of 20 years according to reports, are devoted Christians. Besides, his running mates during the three previous attempts – at the presidency in 2003, 2007 and 2011 – are Christians. |
Re: The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:30pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
Ethnicity Those opposed to the Gen. Buhari presidency branded him as an ethnic jingoist, whose passion is limited to the North. This also failed to convince discerning Nigerians, who insited on change – the APC slogan. |
Re: The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:31pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
Certificate At a point, the issue of Gen. Buhari’s educational attainment was brought up and his opponents said he had not satisfied the educational requirement to run for the presidency. The statutory prerequisite is the West Africa School Certificate (WASCE). He had filled in his INEC intent form that a copy could be obtained in its file with the Military Secretary. But the issue became a subject of controversy when the military said it only has a recommendation letter from his erstwhile principal that he was qualified to be enlisted into the army in 1961. It took the incumbent principal of Government College (Pilot), Katsina to re-issue a file copy of Buhari’s WASCE Statement of Result before the matter was laid to rest, even the aggrieved rushing to court rooms to have him disqualified. |
Re: The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:31pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
Health Even when his doctor certified him medically fit, his opponents insisted he was terminally ill and urged Nigerians not to vote for him. |
Re: The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:32pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
Hate Adverts When all failed to stop him, Gen. Buhari’s opponents resorted to hate documentaries and publication of hate adverts to cast aspersions on his person. Several billions went into the drains to sponsor such advertisements, many of which never achieved their intended aims. |
Re: The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:35pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
SCRs/PVCs When it dawned on those bent on manipulating the electoral process that the use of the SCRs and the PVCs will not allow electoral fraud, they mounted a campaign against the devices. The biometric verification of the PVCs prevented the illegal use of ware-housed PVCs to vote. |
Re: The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:36pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
Postponement Exactly a week to the presidential and National Assembly elections, the electoral umpire, on the advice of security chiefs, announced a six-week postponement of the elections from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11. Beyond the security challenges that were cited in the Northwestern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe as reasons for the polls’ shift, the measure was to allow the ruling party some space to do some damage control taking the advantage of the six-week window. It was also believed that the opposition would have run out of campaign funds to sustain the tempo. |
Re: The Tortuous Road To Victory. by WIZGUY69(m): 5:36pm On Apr 02, 2015 |
Manipulation The figures returned from some states created an impression that they were doctored and allocated to the 14 political parties that were on the ballot. |
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