She said the minds of most reasonable Nigerians and you calling her names? I'm indifferent because neither Gej or Buhari inspires me. I'm leaning towards Apc simply because Jonathan's ineptness is unprecedented. He never had any ambition to be president but was simply thrown into the stage. He is as startled as an alien that has just landed on earth.

Beautymc:
Everybody want to be noticed

Nigerian celebrities and public commentators no matter how respected they are, would always exhibit parochialism and sentimentalism in their sunmissions. As rich and mind boggling her writeup is, Chimamanda, characteristically polluted it by premising the poll postponement essentially on the fear of the president loosing the elections. Let's assume such postulation is cogent and admissible, was the fear entirely borne out of the president or his party's waning popularity? The answer is a definite NO. Rather such fear (if any) must have been fuelled by the apparent compromised PVC distribution that conferred undue advantage on Buhari and with such anomally, it would be foolhardy to have expected the president or his party to be indifferent. Curiously, none of the socalled political activists, democracy crusaders or ardent supporters of the opposition has ever mentioned the distorted PVC distribution in their opinions. This is sad.

I am too tired right now to address single arguments put forward by Mrs Adichie but reading from her is always a pleasure.


A person the nation can be proud of.

Champele:
Only in Nigeria will you see one with little achievement feeling like God. How many article did she wrote about her half country America?. GEJ joor!

"Did she wrote keh"

zizibabe1:


Nne,I tire o! The fastest way to gaining national notice now is Jonathan bashing.she would eats these her words soon.

Are you sure you read the aricle cos she did not support either Buhari or Johnathan, if I may ask what do you mean?

Looooooool!!! I can't wait to read Doyin Okupe's response to this brilliant piece...

hmmmm. where is a line from Pete Edochie with his one-liners to remind this girl how to talk to humans in Human Language. this is not a book review

FrancisTony:

I'm just stating my opinion if I'm forced to choose between both of them.

Okay.

I fear for the implementation of Sharia Law.

Kindly go through the below threads and tell me your observations:

www.nairaland.com/2142430/religious-bigot-buharis-speech-meeting

www.nairaland.com/2141358/jonathan-plots-2-year-extension-ojudu

Keeping my vote for 2019.

Na you sabi.

Jimi Agbaje has my vote for Lagos Governorship election.

Well, I'm not a lagosian, so I have no business with that. But may I know your reason(s) for Agbaje and not Ambode?

met her once at pace university new york,she studied black african history so for her to be against jona she should know what shes saying

I've know her to be boisterous loquacious skunk who thinks in her egoistic mind that she is important.

What's wrong with her giving back to the society, they only sit around and type all the crap from the dark part of her skull.

Spits on her.

FrancisTony:
Mhen, this babe is a prodigy literary force to reckon with.

In my opinion, Jonathan is an utter clueless man.

Buhari is a heartless & wicked illiterate.

Say NO to GEJ & GMB--In all ramifications, GEJ is a better choice!

You are just clueless as your master, not knowing where to stand , just going with the wind. Shame!

FrancisTony:

So, people that are supporting GEJ are bigots?.

Still searching how Chimamanda and Jonathan are related by tribe.

I didn't say that. I simply appreciated her for speaking the truth irrespective of tribal affiliation. Something a lot of people find so so difficult to do. It is the same way I will appreciate a Northerner that comes out to speak against Buhari if he messes up as a president. We need people with such mentality, whose opinions are not swayed by if the person in question is from the part of the country they hail from.

Of course a lot of people supporting GEJ have demonstrated the character typical of bigots! How else do you describe a person that comes out to say there will be war if Jonathan is not returned as president. Or a host of others that keep saying Jonathan MUST be returned as president.

It doesn't make any sense. We are practicing a democracy, the person that satisfies the requirements of the constitution by having majority votes and clinching 25% of the votes in 2/3rd states will be declared winner. There is nothing any low-lifer can do about that. simple

What everybody is supposed to be doing is to be preaching a free and fair elections and ensuring same happen.

The attitude of this Victor (the carpenter) here epitomizes the BIG difference in the level of motivation and desire to vote between those who would vote for Buhari and those who would vote for GEJ.

The vast majority of those who will vote for Buhari are people who simply want to see AN END to the clueless and incompetent govt. And whether they are in the North, SW, MB, SE or SS, they are INTENSELY MOTIVATED and RESOLUTELY DETERMINED to collect their PVCs and come out to vote, COME RAIN, COME SHINE!

In fact by simply talking to some Buhari supporters in the SW and the North, you would be left with no doubt whatsoever that these are REALLY motivated people, who strongly, some even fanatically, believe in what they are going to vote for.

On the other hand, many PDP supporters, even people from GEJ’s strongholds of SS and SE, are typically like this Lagos-based carpenter; they are generally BY FAR LESS MOTIVATED to even collect PVCs, talk less of enduring a greater hassle and risk of venturing out to vote on the election day.

Thus in reality, the extension of the PVC collection period would do VERY LITTLE to save GEJ from the impending electoral defeat; so many SS/SE voters who enthusiastically voted for him in 2011 (or even aided and abetted massive rigging for him then) are now so disinterested and so reluctant to vote AT ALL, even if their PVCs were to be delivered to their doorsteps.

This simple fact has combined with MANY other changes that have taken place in the political dynamics to effectively SEAL THE FATE of GEJ; He is DEFINITELY going to lose the coming election BIG TIME, and there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING an Asari Dokubo or a Tompolo can do about it!.

Rilwayne001:

Kindly go through the below threads and tell me your observations:

www.nairaland.com/2142430/religious-bigot-buharis-speech-meeting

www.nairaland.com/2141358/jonathan-plots-2-year-extension-ojudu

Err', who wants to buy political lies to amass vote? Well, till then.

Well, I'm not a lagosian, so I have no business with that. But may I know your reason(s) for Agbaje and not Ambode?

Fashola(APC) has been tormenting on less privileges.
Education section is nothing to write home about.

Beautymc:
Everybody want to be noticed

World acclaimed writer wanted to be noticed?!

Just because she spoke the truth about GEJ's intentions, some of her igbo brothers and sisters are now trying to rubbish her. Remember, she is the same woman who wrote a novel that portrayed her tribe as martyrs; a controversial movie (which the Censor Board reluctanly approved for viewing) was created from her story. You her brethren did not see anything wrong with the unhealthy way she portrayed other tribes. She was your heroine. What has now changed?

She has only grazed the surface on GEJ's desperate attempts to hold on to power and you label her "attention seeker". All she wrote about concerning GMB's tenure are things she could not have witnessed "vividly". Yet she wrote about them like she was already a grownup when those events took place. Well, she is a novelist. She merely employed creativity.

This election is bigger than tribe and religion. This is about present facts and projected tendencies. GEJ is bad for Nigeria. He has dragged the army back into politics. This is a dangerous move. The armed forces must not be allowed to use their strength in swaying the political society. Dont give them power you cannot take back.

GEJ is too desperate. He has skirted the fringes of illegality too frequently. The only thing keeping him from impeachment is the corruption of our legislators and the bias of the police. Using the security chiefs to twist the arms of INEC reeks of barefaced desperation.

16 years of PDP rule and Nigeria is now listed among nations fighting terrorism. This is a terrible testimonial. We need a replacement for PDP. GEJ is the flag bearer of this cankerworm that has consumed our greatness. Vote him out.

Thank you very much ladies&gentlemen, Thank you very much fellow officers, Thank you very much friends,relatives&distinguished guests,am a man of viewers but i must say this: My Government will not tolerate interference, if you try,you will be defeated, for i am the one's strongest general, Asssk my soldiers,Asssk those who have the honour of boxing me,Asssssssk my wife............
Am not a politician o

Ariel20:


You are just clueless as your master, not knowing where to stand , just going with the wind. Shame!

That I'm not swinging in either of GEJ & GMB sides now makes me clueless, huh?

Newsflash: They aren't the only political aspirants contesting--there are over dozen of others.

Bobby4090:
Democracy, Deferred: Postponed election, an embarrassment of bad choices, by Chimamanda Adichie.

Last week, Victor, a carpenter, came to my Lagos home to fix a broken chair. I asked him whom he preferred as Nigeria’s next president: the incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan, or his challenger, Muhammadu Buhari.

“I don’t have a voter’s card, but if I did, I would vote for somebody I don’t like,” he said. “I don’t like Buhari. But Jonathan is not performing.”

Victor sounded like many people I know: utterly unenthusiastic about the two major candidates in our upcoming election.

Were Nigerians to vote on likeability alone, Jonathan would win. He is mild-mannered and genially unsophisticated, with a conventional sense of humor. Buhari has a severe, ascetic air about him, a rigid uprightness; it is easy to imagine him in 1984, leading a military government whose soldiers routinely beat up civil servants. Neither candidate is articulate. Jonathan is given to rambling; his unscripted speeches leave listeners vaguely confused. Buhari is thick-tongued, his words difficult to decipher. In public appearances, he seems uncomfortable not only with the melodrama of campaigning but also with the very idea of it. To be a democratic candidate is to implore and persuade, and his demeanor suggests a man who is not at ease with amiable consensus. Still, he is no stranger to campaigns. This is his third run as a presidential candidate; the last time, in 2011, he lost to Jonathan.

This time, Buhari’s prospects are better. Jonathan is widely perceived as ineffectual, and the clearest example, which has eclipsed his entire presidency, is his response to Boko Haram. Such a barbaric Islamist insurgency would challenge any government. But while Boko Haram bombed and butchered, Jonathan seemed frozen in a confused, tone-deaf inaction. Conflicting stories emerged of an ill-equipped army, of a corrupt military leadership, of northern elites sponsoring Boko Haram, and even of the government itself sponsoring Boko Haram.

Jonathan floated to power, unprepared, on a serendipitous cloud. He was a deputy governor of Bayelsa state who became governor when his corrupt boss was forced to quit. Chosen as vice president because powerbrokers considered him the most harmless option from southern Nigeria, he became president when his northern boss died in office. Nigerians gave him their goodwill—he seemed refreshingly unassuming—but there were powerful forces who wanted him out, largely because he was a southerner, and it was supposed to be the north’s ‘turn’ to occupy the presidential office.

And so the provincial outsider suddenly thrust onto the throne, blinking in the chaotic glare of competing interests, surrounded by a small band of sycophants, startled by the hostility of his traducers, became paranoid. He was slow to act, distrustful and diffident. His mildness came across as cluelessness. His response to criticism calcified to a single theme: His enemies were out to get him. When the Chibok girls were kidnapped, he and his team seemed at first to believe that it was a fraud organized by his enemies to embarrass him. His politics of defensiveness made it difficult to sell his genuine successes, such as his focus on the long-neglected agricultural sector and infrastructure projects. His spokespeople alleged endless conspiracy theories, compared him to Jesus Christ, and generally kept him entombed in his own sense of victimhood.

The delusions of Buhari’s spokespeople are better packaged, and obviously free of incumbency’s crippling weight. They blame Jonathan for everything that is wrong with Nigeria, even the most multifarious, ancient knots. They dismiss references to Buhari’s past military leadership, and couch their willful refusal in the language of ‘change,’ as though Buhari, by representing change from Jonathan, has also taken on an ahistorical saintliness.

I remember the Buhari years as a blur of bleakness. I remember my mother bringing home sad rations of tinned milk, otherwise known as “essential commodities”—the consequences of Buhari’s economic policy. I remember air thick with fear, civil servants made to do frog jumps for being late to work, journalists imprisoned, Nigerians flogged for not standing in line, a political vision that cast citizens as recalcitrant beasts to be whipped into shape.

Buhari’s greatest source of appeal is that he is widely perceived as non-corrupt. Nigerians have been told how little money he has, how spare his lifestyle is. But to sell the idea of an incorruptible candidate who will fight corruption is to rely on the disingenuous trope that Buhari is not his party. Like Jonathan’s People’s Democratic Party, Buhari’s All Progressives Congress is stained with corruption, and its patrons have a checkered history of exploitative participation in governance. Buhari’s team is counting on the strength of his perceived personal integrity: his image as a good guy forced by realpolitik to hold hands with the bad guys, who will be shaken off after his victory.

In my ancestral home state of Anambra, where Jonathan is generally liked, the stronger force at play is a distrust of Buhari, partly borne of memories of his military rule, and partly borne of his reputation, among some Christians, as a Muslim fundamentalist. When I asked a relative whom she would vote for, she said, “Jonathan of course. Am I crazy to vote for Buhari so that Nigeria will become a sharia country?”

Nigeria has predictable voting patterns, as all democratic countries do. Buhari can expect support from large swaths of the core north, and Jonathan from southern states. Region and religion are potent forces here. Vice presidents are carefully picked with these factors in mind: Buhari’s is a southwestern Christian and Jonathan’s is a northern Muslim. But it is not so simple. There are non-northerners who would ordinarily balk at voting for a ‘northerner’ but who support Buhari because he can presumably fight corruption. There are northern supporters of Jonathan who are not part of the region’s Christian minorities.

Delaying the elections is a staggeringly self-serving act of contempt for Nigerians.
Last week, I was indifferent about the elections, tired of television commercials and contrived controversies. There were rumors that the election, which was scheduled for February 14, would be postponed, but there always are; our political space is a lair of conspiracies. I was uninterested in the apocalyptic predictions. Nigeria was not imploding. We had crossed this crossroads before, we were merely electing a president in an election bereft of inspiration. And the existence of a real opposition party that might very well win was a sign of progress in our young democracy

Then, on Saturday, the elections were delayed for six weeks. Nigeria’s security agencies, we were told, would not be available to secure the elections because they would be fighting Boko Haram and needed at least another month and a half to do so. (Nigeria has been fighting Boko Haram for five years, and military leaders recently claimed to be ready for the elections.)

Even if the reason were not so absurd, Nigerians are politically astute enough to know that the postponement has nothing to do with security. It is a flailing act of desperation from an incumbent terrified of losing. There are fears of further postponements, of ploys to illegally extend Jonathan’s term. In a country with the specter of a military coup always hanging over it, the consequences could be dangerous. My indifference has turned to anger. What a staggeringly self-serving act of contempt for Nigerians. It has cast, at least for the next six weeks, the darkest possible shroud over our democracy: uncertainty. Source: The Atlantic.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/nigeria-election-democracy-deferred/385341/#disqus_thread

. My dear chima, I was already admitting this as one of your very insightful and intelligent writings until you I saw the goof in your last paragraph! I thought some of your status should have taking time to research deeper into the root causes of the postponement of the election rather than making hasty biased and emotion laden outburst! Have you thought of the danger in disenfranchising over 20 million nigerians if the election had held? Have you thought about the readiness of the over 700000 INEC staff for the election viz-a-viz training and security? Are you not worried that up untill now hard copies of voters registers are yet to be printed? Are you not worried about the obvious and suspicious percentage distribution of PVCs are questionable? To be point that terrorism plagued north east zone have a higher PVC collection index than relatively more peaceful south west, south east and the north central? I thought you should have pondered on these points after which you will be better place to speak on justification or otherwise of the election postponement viz-A-viz INEC readiness and percieved compromise.

Tymax:
Just because she spoke the truth about GEJ's intentions, some of her igbo brothers and sisters are now trying to rubbish her. Remember, she is the same woman who wrote a novel that portrayed her tribe as martyrs; a controversial movie (which the Censor Board reluctanly approved for viewing) was created from her story. You her brethren did not see anything wrong with the unhealthy way she portrayed other tribes. She was your heroine. What has now changed?

She has only grazed the surface on GEJ's desperate attempts to hold on to power and you label her "attention seeker". All she wrote about concerning GMB's tenure are things she could not have witnessed "vividly". Yet she wrote about them like she was already a grownup when those events took place. Well, she is a novelist. She merely employed creativity.

This election is bigger than tribe and religion. This is about present facts and projected tendencies. GEJ is bad for Nigeria. He has dragged the army back into politics. This is a dangerous move. The armed forces must not be allowed to use their strength in swaying the political society. Dont give them power you cannot take back.

GEJ is too desperate. He has skirted the fringes of illegality too frequently. The only thing keeping him from impeachment is the corruption of our legislators and the bias of the police. Using the security chiefs to twist the arms of INEC reeks of barefaced desperation.

16 years of PDP rule and Nigeria is now listed among nations fighting terrorism. This is a terrible testimonial. We need a replacement for PDP. GEJ is the flag bearer of this cankerworm that has consumed our greatness. Vote him out.

The emboldened of your post portrayed your tribalistic nature.

I wonder when those people that commented at the frontpage of this thread told you they are igbo.

Still trying to figure when Jonathan became Igbo and has only Igbo supporters.

LMAO

bjcuntis:
this guy would be thinking he will get lyk 1000 likes. hehehe!

Nigeria has predictable voting patterns, as all democratic countries do. Buhari can expect support from large swaths of the core north, and Jonathan from southern states. Region and religion are potent forces here. Vice presidents are carefully picked with these factors in mind: Buhari’s is a southwestern Christian and Jonathan’s is a northern Muslim. But it is not so simple. There are non-northerners who would ordinarily balk at voting for a ‘northerner’ but who support Buhari because he can presumably fight corruption. There are northern supporters of Jonathan who are not part of the region’s Christian minorities

I enjoyed every bit of this delicious piece.....but like most southerners she is an 'Americana' when it comes to the north. Christians in the North are'nt the minority (in number s) there have been defeated and subdued by divination, terror (jihad) and the love for money. And there's nearly any northerner who is not aware of the Genesis to Revelation of Book Haram. Infidel! Is no discription that anybody would like to be called...be he a deputy gov, president or vice president. I have chosen to be apolitical on election right from my days in El-Kanemi Hall when i discovered what politics truely is. Would I vote in this election? I don't have my card yet. Why? Because I had the feeling that going to my village/LGA was a high risk when INEC started distribution. Few days after the commencement my whole L.G.have been taking over by gunmen. Thank God it has been reclaimed by a gallant soldiers of the Nigerian Army with the aid of some hunters. Now the storm is over is my blood what worth the voting of any of these candidates? No! for the love of my country I shall try to vote. But will it count? That would'nt deter me. Can any politician be the answer to my wish for this country? No they can't..... Can you tell me one politician that kept his or her word? no...Jesus only is my confidant.... He alone can ensure that my good whatever the outcome of these election.
I would rather pray for my help comes from the Lord.

lookingforjob:
[b]It is sad to see many anti-progressives call Buhari names because of his tribal accent. Igbo's , Yoruba and Hausa's all have various ways of speaking and pronunciation due to our mother tongue. When i watched father Mbaka's video, his accent was obvious when he pronounced OIL as OYEL but does that makes him an illiterate? General Buhari reads, writes and gives speeches in English, He had a lauded and excellent interview on Aljazeera, Channels, eta'l but the hatred by some Nigerians will never let them see the fact that this is the only man who can deliver the change the common man crave for.


The most supporters of this present administration are the Igbo's. They see this as an opportunity for them to avenge what was done to them during the civil war. They never blamed Ojukwu who started a suicide mission and ran to ivory coast leaving them to their fate. This is why they will never see anything good in Buhari even if GEJ does nothing, they are contented.

THEY ARE HAPPY THE ELECTION WAS POSTPONED. THEY ARE SO EASY TO DECEIVE. GEJ fooled the igbos with Azikwe and promise of a bridge that's still on paper. They see GEJ as the closest they can get to aso rock. voting him is their way of flexing their political muscle but we shall put them to shame.

Had APC presented Fashola, Atiku or Kwankwaso , they will still find reasons to vote for GEJ and label Apc candidates bad. This hate is not about buhari, it's the way they feel they can get revenge for refusing to allow them form their Biafran territory. The Igbos believe another 4 years of GEJ presidency might bring about the end of Nigeria. Their selfish motive is to establish Biafra. They call Yoruba's slave to the North and all sort of names. They are a petty tribe. Its unfortunate the disunity of this country originates from their region.
They call for disintegration of the country but you will find them in every parts of the country selling fake drugs and fake goods produced in aba. They can't stay in their eastern region yet they want biafra. they even claim to own Lagos and its no mans land. Let's assume the country was divided today, will lagos be in the biafran map empty chest beaters. no wonder you find their people on death row all over Asia due to drug trafficking. instead of voting for a competent government, they prefer to suffer and resort to crimes for living. they are sadists, they travel home on 31/12 and return back on 02/01 and still hate such land that host their businesses.

In 2011, we all saw GEJ as a messiah and we voted him en-masse irrespective of his tribe and religion. We thought he would deliver us from years of misrule due to his humble look and name GOODLUCK. Nigerians did not vote PDP but GEJ. Then Yoruba's were not tagged slaves for trooping out to vote for him en-masse.

They said APC and Buhari promised to make Nigeria ungovernable. My question is why can't these people be arrested if the statements tagged to them were true GEJ is the commander in chief of all forces in Nigeria and it baffles me how a civilian in Buhari can make his government ungovernable while he sits and watch without taking actions. Isn't that a high level of incompetence?

Good luck Jonathan is the worst president we ever had in this country. The misfortunes of his administrations exceeds the so called transformations. I urge everyone to vote wisely


##March4Buhari [/b]

Time was when i used to take your ilk seriously. In many ways than one, I have come to realize that Yorubas who are given to tribalistic rants like you either have never set their foot outside their domain; on the eastern part of Nigeria. When you guys blame Ojukwu, i wonder how you people would have reacted when faced with a looming genocide on your race. Unbiased minds know Ojukwu did what he had to do: Fight for the existence of his people.

Granted that each part of Nigeria have their peculiarities in pronunciations but you needn't have to tell a lie to drive home your point. Fr. Mbaka sure has a thick Igbo accented way of reeling out our lingua franca, but he neither mentioned Oil nor Oyel in the said video. You can do better than that lame drivel, man. I have some of my best friends including pastors as Yorubas, hence will not see you as the archetypal Yoruba individual. If anything, your type gets lost under the cloud of inferiority complex when in the mixed circle of diverse ethnic groups tori olorun. Still, make no mistake about my Nigerianess. I grew up in the north, Kaduna to be precise. And see myself as a northerner by association, to put it better; Kadite. Walahi talahi, I have always rooted for the continued existence of Nigeria. So when you speak about Biafra, be sure you know what you are talking about.

On a whole, Buhari is being touted as the needed saviour. Fine by you, his supporters. But please permit others the right to pick their own candidate too without mixing it with tribalistic sentiments. NB: Since your username says you are looking for a job, I have chosen to overlook your puerile tirade, juxtaposing it alongside unemployment induced emotional imbalance................Take several chill pills bro.

FrancisTony:

The emboldened of your post portrayed your tribalistic nature.

I wonder when those people that commented at the frontpage of this thread told you they are igbo.

Still trying to figure when Jonathan became Igbo and has only Igbo supporters.

As usual, you would sing the song of denial rather than face issues. Just like GEJ. No wonder you support him.

FrancisTony:

Err', who wants to buy political lies to amass vote? Well, till then.

Kk.

Fashola(APC) has been tormenting on less privileges.

I don't agree with the above....can you elaborate a bit on this? I've been to lagos and I can disagree with you here

Education section is nothing to write home about.

O yeah! I hear most people talk about this, but what makes you think Ambode will be indifference?

Tymax:


As usual, you would sing the song of denial rather than face issues. Just like GEJ. No wonder you support him.

I'm supporting none.

Jonathan is an Ijaw man if you're unaware of it.

Rilwayne001:
I don't agree with the above....can you elaborate a bit on this? I've been to lagos and I can disagree with you here

I'm sure that LAG Motorcyclist and Keke Maruwa(ist) will tell you more.

O yeah! I hear most people talk about this, but what makes you think Ambode will be indifference?

Tinubu is his Godfather just like Fashola's own....

Bobby4090:



So who wants to be noticed? you or Chimamamda? Can any of your generations past and present attain her world wide status?

Don't mind the ignorant slowpoke.
Chimamanda is more respected than GEJ whose first book "My Friends and I" has been forgotten and did not even sell as my own books.

karpentar:
Election was postponed to allow over 20 million voters get their PVCs within the 6 weeks period. The core of these 20 million is from areas likely to vote for GEJ. JEGA withheld PVCs from these folks to favour his party - APC. Government is smarter and more powerful and had to intervene. Now APC is restless and shouting; "postponement is provocative and threat to democracy”. I wonder how an act legally carried out by INEC has become a threat to democracy. Did INEC break any law? APC won’t tell you the real reason why they are crying wolf, but PDP/GEJ knows.
Insecurity is never the reason for the postponement. JEGA lied!!!

Elections were postponed for the 2011 General elections too. Chimamanda needs to take it easy.


[size=20pt]History and news about Nigeria General Election - 9.04.2011[/size]
Monday, January 10, 2011

A presidential election is to be held in Nigeria on 9 April 2011.The election follows controversy as to whether a Muslim or Christian should be allowed to become president given the tradition of rotating the top office between the regions and following the death of Umaru Yar'Adua, who was a Muslim, and Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, assuming the interim presidency.
Candidates

There are sixty-three registered political parties in Nigeria, for which it was not clear how many would field candidates.

As this was supposed to be the turn of a Muslim candidate, it was not controversial to have Ibrahim Babangida, a former general and military ruler, and Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, say they would be running for the presidency.

After initial doubts,the as yet unelected president Goodluck Jonathan declared his intention to run for the presidency on 18 September, 2010.
Muhammadu Buhari was nominated by Congress for Progressive Change.

Campaign

Following a bombing in Abuja during Nigeria's 50th anniversary celebrations and the consequent arrest and interrogation of the Director General of Babangida campaign, Raymond Dokpesi, there were calls for him to quit the race. In addition, there were others who linked his affiliated to the blasts. He responded in saying it would be "idiotic to link" him with attack. Even before the blasts, however, some of his former loyalists, popularly called "IBB Boys," apparently asked him to quit the presidential race so as not to avoid being rubbished by a non-General.

Controversy

In September 2010, the election commission requested a postponement of the polls citing the need for more time to overhaul the national electoral register. Critics were upset over the proposal.The election was postponed from January to April due to the release of a new electronic voter registration software.
In December 2010, bombs went off in Yenegoa, Bayelsa State during a gubernatorial campaign rally. There were also bombings and shooting in the north blamed on Boko Haram. Politicians and police said that the campaign of violence aimed to disrupt the election.




[size=20pt]Nigeria: Postponement of the 2011 General elections in Nigeria[/size]
Published on: Sunday, April 3rd, 2011


By Chinyere Ogbonna, Nigeria – The National Assembly election in Nigeria earlier scheduled to hold last Saturday and later aborted, has again been shifted to April sixteen, 2011.

The shift has affected the time table for the general elections in the country.

Yesterday the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in the country announced the rescheduling of 2011 National Assembly election ( Senate and the House of Representatives) from April second to April fourth due to late arrival of some sensitive election materials such as the result sheets.

Since the announcement, the INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega has been meeting with stakeholders and representatives of various political parties in the country.

A statement by the commission, says following representations made to the commission urging it to consult more widely, to ensure that the two-day postponement is enough to address all the logistical issues that may mare the successful conduct of the rescheduled polls.

Following these representations and subsequent consultations with stakeholders, the commission found out that the overwhelming sentiment is to further reschedule the elections.

According to the statement in Abuja signed by the Secretary of the commission, Abdullahi Kaugama request to reschedule the nations general elections have come from a cross-section of stakeholders, including the political parties and the civil society organizations.

The statement however says that the rescheduling of the National Assembly polls would have implications on for the schedule of all other elections in the country.

Consequently, the statement added that the commission after weighing all the options available to it, considered the wide ranging counsel of Nigerians and decided to reschedule all elections as follows: Saturday April 9th, 2011 National Assembly elections (Senate and House of Representatives), Saturday April 16, 2011 ,Presidential polls and Tuesday April 26th 2011, Governorship and State Assembly elections.

It thanked Nigerians for their sacrifices, enthusiasm for the elections and support form the commission and electoral process.

The statement quotes the commission as reiterating its commitment to conduct a free, fair and credible polls.

Meanwhile, mixed reactions from across the have trailed the re-scheduling of the 2011 elections dates . some Lagos residents who spoke with Shout-Africa.com Correspondent Chinyere Ogbonna expressed willingness to participate in the exercise as long as it will be free and fair, while others said INEC should have carried out all necessary actions before announcing the dates. Another group in Imo state believe that Professor Jega was outsmarted by agents of some political parties who withheld form they referred to as form EC8C to perpetrate fraud. The absence of the form according to them, prompted the INEC Chairman to immediately postpone the election.

In telephone interviews with Nigerians from elsewhere in the country, their concern was for INEC to conduct a free, fair and credible polls devoid of violence and rigging.

The Police on its part have said it will improve on some security lapses experienced during the National Assembly elections on Saturday.

Addressing a news conference in Ikeja in Lagos, The Commissioner of Police in the Mr. Suleiman Abba said that the Police and other security agencies had re-strategized on how to discharge their duties better.

Mr. Abba said thirty thousand personnel have been deployed to maintain peace in the state.

He warned that violent acts would not be tolerated anywhere in the state especially during the polls.

The Police advised residents to comply with the restriction on vehicular movement between eight in the morning and four in the afternoon on election days

I had to get out a dictionary to fully understand this article....Very hilarious and elegant one.