The political atmosphere in the country is already charged ahead of the 2019 elections and expectedly so because there is so much at stake among the political gladiators on who gets what before, during and after the elections depending on where the pendulum of victory will swing in 2019.
Even though President Muhammadu Buhari recently told the British Prime Minister, Theresa May in London, that his focus is on the economy and alarming insecurity in the country, many might find it difficult to believe the President owing to some of his previous actions and inactions
Chief among those is the appointment of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, (SAN) Festus Keyamo as the spokesman of his campaign organisation for reelection in 2019. This is also coming closely after the President announced his intention to seek reelection before jetting out of the country – a development that many might say is far-fetched from the President’s stand that the 2019 elections is not uppermost in his mind.
Even as the President continues to deny that the coming election might not mean a lot to him, those that knew him before ascending the mantle of leadership in the country say President Buhari is seriously worried as he is likely to face the most serious battle of his political career yet which is also likely to be the last, no matter the outcome.
Unlike in 2015 when many saw him as the ‘messiah’ who was coming to not only save them from the shackles of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) but change so many things in line with his party’s slogan of ‘change’, the reality of leadership which the President himself attested to and the suffering in the land is making many to sing a different tune.
Before the 2019 elections, PDP became like a leper in the North, just the mentioning of the name or its presidential candidate and then sitting President Goodluck Jonathan would put you in a disadvantaged position in many parts of the region.
The ‘discrimination’ and fear of the Buhari followers was so high that many PDP candidates including sitting governors had to attach their campaign posters to Buhari to show that they are not sympathetic to either the PDP or the President Jonathan.
Little wonder that the sitting President was stoned in Kaduna and his followers driven underground in many parts of the North. It was because of this that elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai recently said that “there are many ways of rigging election. What happened in 2015 where the majority of southerners resident in the north were scared away from their places of residence, where they had registered, to their place of origin and therefore could not have the opportunity to vote, was rigging.
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“Again some of the southerners who did not run away were afraid to come out and vote on the day of election. So scaring people from coming out to vote for the candidates of their choice is also a form of rigging.”
Yakassai was speaking when he led the newly formed Northern Leaders Stakeholders Assembly to visit former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, (rtd) at his Hilltop Mansion in Minna, the Niger State capital.
Among those on his entourage were Senator Joseph Waku, Alhaji Ghali Na Abba, Dr. Mohammed Data, Alhaji Abba Hana, Hajiya Inna Corona, Hajiya Zainab Main, Gimbia Rani, Alhaji Bala Mohammed and Dr. Umaru Babangida Aliyu.
However, the Northern Leaders Stakeholders Assembly was not alone in their criticism of the present administration as many stakeholders from the North are no longer on the same page like in 2015.
The situation has changed and even those who where once ardent followers of the President are now singing discordant tunes. It is because of this that the President may not find it easy like the way he did in 2015.
Like in 2015 when many were unable to speak against Buhari, Alhaji Yakassai, has also disclosed that there was massive rigging in the North in the 2015 general elections.
He cited instances of manipulation in the elections, saying while the electronic voting was religiously observed in the southern part of the country, it was not so observed in the North.
He noted that: “This is because it was religiously observed in the southern part of the country, but it was not so religiously observed in the northern parts of the country. It was from that moment that I began to have some reservations about the electronic voting pattern.”
In a tune that might not be pleasant to the supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari, the elder statesman lamented that most leaders of northern extraction had for long taken the support of northerners for granted, stressing that henceforth, it would not be “business as usual”.
On his part, former president Babangida, who seems not to be supporting the reelection bid of the president, described the assembly as “a forum that should be encouraged because of its commitment to the unity of Nigeria and maintenance of its territorial integrity. “I want to commend you for your idea to ensure the advancement of the country. I believe that we should support peaceful co-existence in the country. “We will encourage what you are doing and support you to succeed.”
Speaking in the same vain recently, the Arewa consultative Forum (ACF) and Northern Elders Forum (NEF) leading over 17 other organisations that met in Kaduna also lampooned the president and other northern leaders for their performance, insisting that reelection would not be business as usual
