By Akanni Alaka
Against all odds, President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has emerged as the winner of the 2019 presidential election, dusting his fiercest opponent, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The president had loads of baggage, including the parlous state of the economy, nepotism, poor health and the state of insecurity in the country going into the election.
But, investigations by The Nigerian Xpress revealed that Buhari’s emergence was due to several factors, chief among which was that he held tenaciously to his traditional base in the northern part of the country, while at the same time making inroads into hitherto opposition strongholds in the south.
Political observers told our correspondent that while the president was making inroads into unfamiliar terrain, he made sure that he did not lose hold of his support base in the north.
Hence, he won handsomely in the north-west, north-east and also made appreciable showings in the north-central states. Indeed, the president had been expected to perform poorly in the north-central due to the senseless killings by Fulani herdsmen, especially in Plateau, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, Kwara and even Niger states.
Another factor, according to sources, was that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, did not strictly enforce the use of card readers in the north, which was the reason while the zone was able to record high number of voters.
The source also added that the north is more politically active than the south. According to him, while only about 30 percent of voters turned out last Saturday for instance in one of the southern states, most northern states recorded as much as 70 percent turnout.
It was also observed that while the north was relatively peaceful on election day, which resulted in large turnout of voters, most southern states were embroiled in violence, leading to the killings of scores of people.
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As a result, most eligible voters in the south, which is the stronghold of the opposition, were afraid to come out for fear of being killed or injured.
But, the most significant point, according to findings was the impressive votes the president secured in some states like Abia, Ebonyi, Imo and Delta. The president had never won election in any of those states, except Imo.
Meanwhile, as President Buhari coasted home to victory, the PDP called for the suspension of the results as it argued that its own tally from the actual votes at the polling units showed that Nigerians clearly and unequivocally gave their mandate to its candidate.
Analysis of the results announced at the National Collation Centre showed that in securing his second term of office, the President defeated the PDP candidate at his traditional stronghold of North West and North East.
In addition, the President also put up more than expected performance in the North Central, unexpectedly winning in Kwara and Nasarawa states.
He also put up a neck and neck performance in other states of the North Central like Benue, Plateau states won by the PDP presidential candidate, thus denying the opposition party the anticipated margin of victory that would have enhanced the chances of its flag bearer.
In the same vein, the President also gained more votes in the South East and South-South states.
In the South West, Buhari won in Ekiti, Lagos, Osun and Ogun states, leaving only Ondo and Oyo states for his PDP opponent.
Even then, Atiku’s margin of victory in the two South West states was too thin to give him any major advantage over his APC opponent.
In anticipation of eventual declaration of Buhari as winner of the presidential election, members of APC were getting ready for celebration for at the party’s presidential Campaign office located in the Central Business District of Abuja on Tuesday evening.
News Agency of Nigeria reports that young supporters of APC were in high spirit at the Campaign Office as they expressed delight at the results announced so far.
According to the agency, while some of the youths were seen dancing on the street, others were busy putting finishing touches to the already arranged stage for a party which they said “would be a bang.”
APC, PDP bicker over results
But PDP at a press conference on Tuesday evening addressed by TanimuTuraki (SAN), Deputy Director (Administration) of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization, on behalf of Atiku alleged that INEC is reconfiguring card readers used in some parts of the country to conform with the votes declared for APC in some of the states.
He also listed some states where, according to him, the results had been manipulated in favour of the ruling party.
Turaki said: “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demands, in line with the commitment to a transparent, free and fair election, an immediate halt to the on-going collation of results by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), until data from the smart card reader accreditation at the polling units are made available to all the parties in the election.
“The PDP predicates its demand on available evidence to the effect that data from the card readers are being reconfigured to suit the manipulations, rigging and over-voting already carried out during the election in some states by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Already, the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, has communicated this position of our party to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. We have evidence from the smart card reader accreditation data that what is being announced by INEC has been seriously tampered with and manipulated.
“In the meantime, we demand the immediate and outright cancellation of Presidential election results in Yobe, Zamfara, Nasarawa and Borno states as submitted by INEC presiding officers and ask for the conduct of fresh elections in these states.
“In Yobe, the total number of votes submitted as cast was more than the number of accredited voters. Whereas the number of accredited voters was 601,056, the total votes cast was 775, 449. This is a clear case of over-voting which, by the provisions of the Electoral Act, renders the election null and void. In such instance, the law provides for another election on a day to be fixed by INEC.
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“In Zamfara State, no actual voting took place and there was no single result sheet in any polling unit in the entire state. There was an arrest in Shinkafi Local Government, where an APC member was caught thumb-printing ballot papers inside his house. Results from the presiding officer from Zamfara were concocted and allocated according to the wishes of the leadership of the APC and INEC. The PDP therefore demands the outright deletion of the results from Zamfara from INEC records and a conduct of free, fair and credible Presidential election in Zamfara State.
“Also in Borno State, there was no election but a figure writing exercise and allocation of results according to the whims and caprices of the APC leaders. We also demand the outright deletion of the results from Borno from INEC records and a conduct of free, fair and credible Presidential election in Borno State.
“In Nasarawa, the PDP demands the immediate restoration of our over 157,000 lawful and valid votes which were unlawfully and arbitrarily cancelled by INEC and the announcement of the actual results from the field.
“Similarly, the PDP demands an immediate restoration of our over 79,000 valid votes which were unlawfully cancelled by INEC in Kogi State and the announcement of the authentic results inclusive of the restored 79,000 votes
“In the FCT, the PDP demands the restoration of 27,000 valid votes unlawfully and arbitrarily cancelled by INEC and a declaration of the authentic result, inclusive of our restored 27,000 votes.
“In Plateau, the PDP demands the immediate restoration of our over 30,000 lawful and valid votes, which were unlawfully cancelled particularly in Jos North and the declaration of the genuine results as delivered at the polling units inclusive of our 30,000 restored votes.
“The PDP therefore calls on Nigerians to disregard the results until INEC provides the data from the smart card reader accreditation at the polling units, conducts fresh election in Borno, Yobe and Zamfara states as well as restore our votes in Plateau, FCT, Kogi and Nasarawa states.
“The PDP maintains that from the actual votes delivered at the polling units, which we all have, Nigerians clearly and unequivocally gave their mandate to Atiku Abubakar.”
The vice presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi, had also in an earlier press conference on Tuesday alleged that voters in the South-East region were deliberately kept out of voting.
Obi, who spoke to journalists in Onitsha, faulted INEC for allegedly insisting on the use of card readers in areas considered as PDP strongholds, while allowing manual accreditation in parts of the country during the elections.
Frustrated supporters of PDP supporters were calling on the party to release its own version of the results to counter those being announced at the National Collation Centre.
But in spite of the complaints by the opposition party, The Nigerian Xpress gathered that pressure is mounting on Atiku to concede defeat to Buhari.
Director, Strategic Communications, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Festus Keyamo, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja said contrary to the claims of PDP, INEC has done a good job in the conduct of the elections.
“The PDP is, in essence and most unfortunately, saying that if they don’t win fairly then they are willing to tear down the walls to get their way by hook or by crook,” he said.
Concede to Buhari
Some Nigerians, including some of the most vocal supporters of the former vice president are urging him to toe the path laid by former President Goodluck Jonathan, who in 2015 called to congratulate Buhari before the winner of the presidential poll was declared.
“My dear WAZIRIN, as a believer, you are aware that only God can give or take power. You’ve written your name in gold. Do not wait a minute longer. Please, pick that phone and call President Muhammadu Buhari. You have much more to gain Sir… Pass on the burden!,” newspaper publisher, Dele Momodu said on his twitter handle just after results from 12 states had been officially declared on Tuesday afternoon.
The call, as Momodu himself further explained, followed the tension being generated over the rejection of the outcome of the presidential election just after results from less than 10 states had been declared by Uche Secondus, the Chairman of PDP on Monday.
Don’t reject election result
Key international observers who participated in monitoring the election across the country are warning that rejecting the outcome of the election will be an invitation to anarchy.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, African Union and United Nations cautioned Nigerian political parties to refrain from rejecting results of elections which were being announced.
The bodies urged aggrieved political parties to wait for the conclusion of the exercise and thereafter take legal action to seek redress. They said their attention has been drawn to the rejection of results of the presidential elections by one of the participating parties.
“ECOWAS, AU and UN call on all the candidates, political parties and indeed all Nigerians to continue to exercise patience, calm and restraint in order to allow for the full results of the elections to be released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
“At the conclusion of the process, all aggrieved parties and persons are encouraged to resort to legal means to seek redress in accordance with the constitution and relevant laws of Nigeria and its previously agreed in the Peace Accord of 13th February, 2019.’’
The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) had also urged the candidates to keep to the terms of the final peace accord they signed ahead of the 2019 presidential election. Maria Arena, Chief Observer, EU EOM, spoke with State House Correspondents in Abuja, after she led the mission to a private meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
She said that the participation of the two front runners at the peace accord was significant. President Buhari and Alhaji Abubakar had alongside 70 other candidates signed the final peace accord. Buhari, had, during the signing of the accord, appealed to his fellow presidential candidates to commit to the ideals of peace so as to keep Nigerians safe.
He said the INEC had already assured that it had done everything possible to ensure free and fair elections. Though its advise may be described as self-serving, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) had also called on Atiku to call and congratulate President Buhari on his impending victory in the Presidential election.
The group in a statement issued by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju, and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, on Tuesday in Abuja noted the trend of results announced by INEC has shown clearly that the President has secured the mandate of majority of Nigerians for a second term in office.
“The group noted that though as usual, Buhari secured a large chunk of votes from his traditional strongholds in Northern Nigeria, he did far better this time than in 2015 in areas that were considered as PDP’s power base in Southern Nigeria. “So he clearly got a pan-Nigerian mandate in a free, fair and credible election that had two distinguished politicians from the same Fulani ethnic stock as the major candidates,” it said.
“We at BMO believe that this is the ideal time for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to take a cue from the man he loved