₦airaland Forum

It was in the early hours of 1 April in 2015 that Nigerians woke into the news that General Muhammadu Buhari had won the Presidential election which held on March 28 2015. April fool’s day had become the making of Buhari’s greatest feat and Jonathan’s biggest loss. Prior to this day the normalcy was Buhari loosing elections. In fact
winning elections had become something very rare for General Muhammadu Buhari after he had contested 3 times and lost.

Buhari had already reached the end of himself and had almost made up his mind that he would not get the chance to ever preside over the affairs of the nation. However with the formation of a vibrant opposition party in the character of APC, General Muhammadu Buhari began to weigh his chances. Buhari’s ascension to power in May 2015 did not come through a straight forward process as many have been made to believe.

While the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission Prof. Attahiru Jega had received applauses for his role in the transition of power in 2015. The applauds he got were the sounds of self deceit and self interest from the very hands who hired him to do their bidding. No wonder Godsday Orubebe as not statesmanship as he may be remembered for had to stand up to the caricature of praises which Jega’s paymasters had invented to blindfold the Nigerian electorates into believing that the election that brought about the Presidency of General Muhammadu Buhari was free and fair.

President Muhammadu Buhari whose previous electoral losses hinged on the fact that he had no sway in other regions, had pulled a master stroke in the Southern region this time around and this master stroke was pretentiously accredited to his merge with the likes of Bola Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi who were key figures from the South but the statistics behind Buhari’s victory prove that the impact of these duo was actually overhyped.

Long before the March 28 Presidential elections held President Buhari had already won the election not because Jonathan had underperformed in his four years in charge but because there was a demand by the power brokers of the nation who were mainly made up of Northerners to ensure that power returned to the North. In truth it was this stance that led to the decimation of PDP and the several defections that rocked Jonathan’s camp 18 months before his fate was sealed.

Through the use of insecurity et all the Jonathan administration had been painted black by compulsion and the goal of turning the Nigerian electorate against their own President was well cemented. But somehow six weeks to the initial date the elections were postponed in order for the insecurity issues in some states to be cleared. This six weeks gave President Jonathan a comeback chance with Nigerians now seeing things a bit different.

However it was the mechanisation by Professor Jega that was going to be the major blow to the incumbent. His introduction of a fraudulent and unbalanced polling unit and unbalanced delivery of PVC’s in the South as to the North was his way of doing the bidding of his ethnic group who had a philosophy of born to rule.

Forget all the stories you have heard about Jega’s unbiased role in the 2015 election. Jega was the lead rigger in what was the most systematically rigged elections where card readers where used for the first time in the nation’s history and its aim was to disfranchise the South Jonathan’s strong hold and populate the votes of the North Buhari’s base.

The creation of excessive polling units in the North against the South by a wide margin was delibrate and well orchestrated.

In order to defeat the PDP, APC needed to undermine Jonathan in his areas of greatest strengths – the South-South and the South-East. However, APC men like Amaechi, Okorocha and Oshiomhole proved to be paper-tigers in these areas. In Rivers, Amaechi was disgraced. With all his bluster, he could only deliver 69,000 votes to Buhari; while Jonathan made off with a whopping 1.45 million. No wonder, therefore, that the governor tried to save face by saying there was no election in Rivers. He even rented a crowd to go on a perfunctory demonstration.

There were reports that the person who was told to do the card readers had an affiliation with the APC and the failure of the card reader to book President Jonathan on election day was a very bad signal of what was to come. I admire Jonathan a lot for not expressing panic that day. But should the failure of the card reader be laid to rest ?

The failure of INEC to deliver PVC in states in the South while terror ravaged places like Borno had a 99% delivery says a lot about the man Jega. And the decision to allow those not accredited to vote in the middle of the election was part and parcel of the script to inflate votes. The scores of votes from states like Borno and Kano were shocking with President Jonathan saying ” I could not have gotten that figure “

Jonathan’s failure was hinged on a gang up by the North who had made up their minds that Jonathan would not be allowed to continue and by so doing manipulating all and sundry in their sides to get their wishes done. Jonathan did not just loose the election. He was beaten by Jega’s technology of card readers and mechanisation of excessive polling units in Buhari’s area of strong hold. In the end Jega got his wish. A rigged election by the umpire himself in the most systematic of ways.

Soibi Versatile is Daily Memoirs Chief Writer

We know that already

We know this even in 2015 , even tinubu knows this.

Though Prof.Jega must be regretting his infamous actions back then but the reality of enthroning the catastrophe on seat today will forever hunt him.

GEJ saw the handwriting on the wall but was too timid to retire Jega that year due to much stampeding from the then opposition party ( APC )…..

GEJ greatest foolish thing was appointing ba northerner to head INEC

GEJ. was quite cowardly

ovieigho:
GEJ saw the handwriting on the wall but was too timid to retire Jega that year due to much stampeding from the then opposition party ( APC )…..

That's where I blame him till tomorrow.
I lived and worked in Yobe d whole of 2013.
When Jega said there was 70% voters card collection in Yobe by 2014,I knew he was up to something cos the residents of the state were displaced to other states and the state capital.
Who come collect d voters card kwanu?

The past is gone.

APC successful hoodwinked Nigerians into believing Buhari is the messiah. We cannot unwind it. We can only learn our lessons and make sure anyone coming in the name of Buhari in 2023 should not win, otherwise no more pity.

GEJ should have sent Jega packing before elections indeed. Jega pretended like he had any integrity, but he's just a borrowed weapon used to perfect the rigging of the APCheats