CHIBUZO UKAIBE and MOSES ORJIME x-ray the performance of the new comers in the 2019 presidential election.
The buildup to the 2019 general elections saw many young people indicate interest in the presidency. It seemed like the nation was on the cusp of a political renaissance.
Ranging between the ages of 33 and 46 and fired by the zeal to make a difference, this group of young Nigerians entered the political space, some even from the diaspora.
With the Not Too Young To Run movement raging, the clamour for a third force buzzing and the feeling that 2019 might just mark the end of old political guard, these political “adventurers” sought to engage the terrain albeit at the highest level, the Presidency. Before long the scramble began.
They however seemed to enjoy the endorsement from former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, who clamoured for a paradigm shift to a youth emerging president in 2019.
They had withdrawn their support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term ambition, and expressed support for a younger president.
Of the lot however, George Moghalu of the Young Progressive Party (YPP); Fela Durotoye of Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN); Omoyele Sowore,Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim (49 – M) – People’s Trust (PT), Adesina Fagbenro-Byron of Kowa Party had more presence going into the polls as they moved around the country to test the ground. They expressed distrust in the present political actors and promised to edge them out of power in 2019.
Burning with ideas groomed by foreign universities and hoping to fire up the people to embrace a new order they sought to bring, they utilised the social media, remaining undaunting in the face of the seemingly unfair contest with the big parties, the incumbent ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC) and the former ruling party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
While analysts had wondered how these candidates hoped to upstage the two major parties, it seemed like the new entrants were set to spark a revolution.
While the minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, once described them as inconsequential, they marched on hoping to connect with the real voters, selling their youth and capacity to govern a complex state like Nigeria.
The highest point of their campaign was the presidential debate. Although Sowore was shut out from participating which he protested, Ezekwesili, Moghalu and Durotoye, got good ratings on their ability to dissect the problems of the country and proffer solutions. Their brilliance was acknowledged, albeit by the elite electorate, who hardly make up the bulk of voters for an election.
Soon after, reality dawned on them. A mix of political expediency, primodial sentiments and self interests began to manifest. First, Obasanjo threw his weight behind his former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, the PDP candidate and 72 year old veteran politician with whom he had a strained relationship.
Before long, the political blocs in the country began to allign, as was expected, strictly behind either the APC and the PDP. Not even the political platforms of the new candidates were left out.
While Moghalu, as an Igbo man, was furious at the endorsement given to Atiku by the apex Igbo body, Ohaneze Ndi Igbo, Durotoye and Sowore, were never in the reckoning of the Afenifere camps who were split between Atiku or Buhari.
Presidential candidate of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Dr Oby Ezekwesili, saw the handwriting on the wall early enough. Perhaps, having worked within the corridors of political power as minister, she could sense that the party wasn’t stable.
She had barely resigned her candidacy of the party’s presidential ticket than they endorsed Buhari’s second term bid. Another faction of the party pledged loyalty to Atiku.
Her Red Card Movement which aimed to mobilise to reject the APC and PDP, being the “failed old political order”, endorsed Atiku in the run up to the polls.
The results after the election reflected the obvious. Buhari, with a margin of 3,928,869, was declared winner of the February-23rd poll. He polled 15,191,847 votes to defeat Atiku who got 11,262,978 votes.
Interestingly, none of the very visible young candidates made it to the top five. Besides APC and PDP the other parties that made top five were Peoples Coalition Party (PCP) with 110,196 votes, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) with 66,851 and Action Democratic (ADP) with 54,930 votes.
Sowore got 33,953 votes as against Moghalu’s 21,888, Durotoye’s 16,779 and Fasua’s 4,340.
But they have since joined the chorus of other opposition candidates to fault the election.
Sowore, has alleged that the 2019 presidential election was not free and fair.
He believes the process was rigged.
The candidate took to his Twitter account (@YeleSowore) early on Tuesday, February 26, to lament about the conduct of the election.
“Good morning Nigeria! Elections are over, but it is de ja vu! This election wasn’t free and fair. As you can see, even the “winners” can’t celebrate! #TakeItBack,” he posted.
Moghalu on his part, expressed sadness over the loss of lives from violence during the Feb. 23, Presidential and National Assembly Election.
Moghalu, who symphatised with victims and condoled the families of all who lost their lives as a result of the violence, tasked President Muhammadu Buhari on inclusive governance.
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The candidate also decried the alleged operational failures of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the conduct of the elections, the massive vote buying and vote rigging through various methods and the violence that characterised the polls across the country.
According to him, these have brought the credibility of the election to question. He alleged that the supporters of both APC and PDP were complicit in the malpractices.
Moghalu said: “The number of votes tallied for my candidacy by the INEC did not represent anything close to the electoral strength of that candidacy.
“These false numbers were the result of brazen theft of our votes and the suppression of our voters.
“It appears, however, that the strong determination of many of our citizens to reject the APC at the ballot box far outweighed the desire for real change in our polity and governance in 2019.
“Though we did not win this election in terms of overall numbers of votes, the presidential election result is an indication of where our society is at present; 2019 is the last gasp of the old political order that has robbed Nigeria of real development.
“I trust and believe that this situation will change by 2023.”
According to him, as Nigeria moves forward as a country, fundamental reform of its electoral system is needed if its democracy is to have any real meaning.
“Elections, as they are organised and executed today in Nigeria, are a travesty.
“We need to reform the systems of registration, voting and collation of votes by making the processes more transparent through better use of technology.
“As of today, these processes are tedious, inefficient and prone to risks and performance failures such as those we have experienced.
“We also must stiffen punishment and enforce accountability for electoral offences. Nigerians in Diaspora have continued to remit billions of dollars home every year for this.
“Our fellow citizens living abroad must be able to vote from overseas as from 2023. Immediate action to achieve this goal is required once the present elections are over.”
He said that President Muhammadu Buhari, who INEC announced as the winner of the 2019 presidential election, owed Nigerians an inclusive, competent government that could heal the land and take millions of Nigerians out of crushing poverty.
According to him, this calls for a very different approach to create jobs and improve actual economic productivity and living standards.
“A new, philosophically and conceptually grounded approach to economic management that goes beyond mere economic growth statistics to real economic development and structural transformation remains an urgent priority for our country.
“Our struggle for a better and well-governed society, a productive and inclusive economy that breaks the backbone of poverty, and to restore Nigeria’s leadership role in the world continues.
“I on my part will remain engaged in that struggle over the long haul,’’ Moghalu added.
Reacting to the development, a chieftain of the Alliance for Democracy, Stephen Mondo, said that the young people fell short because they lacked strong political structure and the fundings.
“You can’t just come out and say you want to be the president of this country you must start somewhere.
“You must begin at the Grassroots convince the local people, educate them on the issue of politics, tell them why they should vote for a good leader not the leader that will not teach them how to catch fish. It should be a leader that have them at heart, the one that will bring infrastructure.
“You know those people at the local level they need people who will tell them what to do. So you can’t just come out today and from nowhere and start shouting you want yo be the president of this country is no possible.”
Another analyst, Moses Raymond, said either the candidates jumped into the contest without properly understanding the enormity of the task or they had some other ambition with which they needed to use this round of election to pursue.
“At some point I wondered whether those young candidates understood the enormity of engaging a complex state like Nigeria to campaign. First, they had no strong party structures, then lacked the funding, they barely left the social media which covers a very tiny fraction of voters in Nigeria. People in the hitherlands don’t even know they exist and they intend to win?
“Well I won’t be surprised if they had other political intentions such that they decided to use this election cycle to announce themselves in the political scene. We have seen this play out alot. You have politicians whose first foray into politics is to contest at a top level whereas they intend to use that platform to gain a stronger footing in a future election.”
On the way forward, he said “it is advisable that they remain visible and vocal as issues unfold ahead of 2023. One thing is clear, the space will be open then for younger candidates to contest I hope they still remain relevant then.
“Sadly, they have all gone silent now only to emerge barely a year to the next election. One would have expected that they would remain vocal and visible even after they have lost,” he said.
Political analyst, Chuks Nwachukwu, believes the young candidates at times showed a lack of appreciation of the political climate. He however thinks it is an experience worth gaining if they are really serious to engage the system.
“Yes they have made mistakes and I am sure they should have learnt if they were really out to engage the political system. But I think they need to start building the political structures they believe can drive their ideology, broaden their political network, learn the nuances of the different poilitical blocs and fuse that into their narratives on how they intend to govern the country.
“One thing is clear, the race for 2023 has already begun and if they are really desirious of having an alternative platform to either APC and PDP, they need to start working towards a fusion. Yes they tried it before and it failed they can learn from that experience and get it to work this time.”
