The most significant event of the out-going year was the election of Muhammadu Buhari, who defeated incumbent Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. The year witnessed a flurry of political activities from the beginning to the end. Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI highlights the major political events of the year.
THE year 2015 has been significant politically for Nigeria. Being an election year, political activities dominated the year. Owing to the merger that produced the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013, it was clearly foreseen that the 2015 general elections was going to be a keenly-contested one. Indeed, there were no dull moments throughout the period; since the election was scheduled to take place in early in the first quarter of the year, there was a flurry of political activities from the beginning of the year to the end.
The purported prediction by the United States that the country will breakup in 2015 added to the tension surrounding the election. Tension soaked the entire country in the buildup of activities prior to the contest.
The month of January provided a foreboding of what would later happen during the general elections when Enugu State-based Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka of the Adoration Ministry fame prophesied to the chagrin of the authorities then that former President Goodluck Jonathan was likely to lose his re-election bid.
Mbaka had said: “Jonathan has ruled for six years. We need change; NEPA is not working because of corruption; the privatisation of public companies has not yielded any fruit because of corruption; Nigerians are sick and tired of wasting innocent lives without government doing enough to stop the destruction.”
In the same month, President Muhammadu Buhari’s qualification to contest the election became an issue in the media, following the declaration by the Nigerian Army that it was not in possession of the West African School Certificate (WASC) with which the then presidential candidate of the APC enrolled into the Nigerian Military Training College in 1962.
The Director of Army Public Relations (DAPR) Brig-Gen. Olajide Laleye stressed at a press briefing in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that the Army had to make the clarification following barrage of requests from individuals and corporate organisations seeking to know the true position of Buhari’s credentials.
On February 7, the then Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, shocked the nation when he announced a postponement of the general elections earlier scheduled for February 14 and 29 by six weeks; with the Presidential and National Assembly elections to take place March 28, while the governorship and State Assemblies election was shifted to April 11. Jega, who announced the postponement at a press conference, said the delay until March 28 was necessary because of a lack of troops available to protect voters.
The postponement was however greeted with protest from the then opposition party, the APC. The party accused the military of forcing the electoral commission into the delay to help the sitting president’s campaign. APC chairman John Odigie-Oyegun said the “highly provocative” move was a “major setback for Nigerian democracy”.
The much-awaited March 28 presidential election came and Nigerians trooped out to cast their ballots and the rest is history. When the results were announced, former military ruler and the APC flag bearer in the election became the first opposition candidate to win a presidential election, by beating the then incumbent President Jonathan by more than 2.5 million votes. The APC got 15,424,921 votes and the PDP received 12,853,162 votes.
In a show of sportsmanship, Jonathan telephoned his rival to concede defeat. “I promised the country free and fair elections. I have kept my word,” Jonathan said in a statement. He did not even wait till the end of the exercise before he congratulated Buhari. A spokesman for APC praised Jonathan, saying: “He will remain a hero for this move. The tension will go down dramatically.”
Subsequently, Buhari’s supporters took to the streets, to celebrate, by dancing and singing in APC strongholds, including the northern cities of Kano and Kaduna. According to observers, the March 28 presidential election was the most keenly-contested one so far in the Fourth Republic.
Buhari’s victory produced a bandwagon effect on the April 11 governorship and State Assemblies elections; with the APC winning a landslide over PDP. The APC won 19 of the 28 states where governorship election were held, thereby relegating the once-powerful PDP to a regional party. The PDP failed to get a national spread of votes, doing well only in the Southeast and the oil-rich Southsouth states. Most states in the North went to the APC, along with the commercial hub of Lagos in the Southwest. Elections were not held in seven states.
While the election was largely peaceful, experts were of the opinion that the participation of Nigerians in the election in terms of turnout was low when placed side-by-side the number of voters who trooped out en masse to cast their ballots in the presidential election. The situation in Lagos State was made peculiar by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu’s threat on the Igbo community that they should vote his preferred candidate, Akinwumi Ambode, or get drowned in the lagoon.
The month of May witnessed the change of guard in the nation’s leadership as former President Jonathan handed over to his successor, President Buhari on May 29. The high-point of the event was Buhari’s declaration that he “belongs to everybody and belongs to nobody.”
The following month (June), the 8th National Assembly was inaugurated in an event that witnessed lots of intrigues, particularly at the Senate. Members of the ruling APC had, earlier in the day, gone for a purported meeting with President Buhari, of which they returned only to discover that the majority PDP lawmakers that were on seat then had elected one of their own, Chief Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President, while helping Senator Bukola Saraki to become the Senate President against the wish of his party leaders.
In the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara from the Northeast got elected as Speaker in contravention of the resolve of the APC hierarchy to install Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila from the Southwest as Speaker. The party leadership could also not have its way in who becomes Dogara’s deputy as Hon. Yusuf Lasun from the Southwest clinched the position.
In July, a major breakthrough was recorded in Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram insurgents as the Nigerian Air Force on the 29th announced that its patrol and surveillance activities have blocked routes through which petroleum products and other materials are supplied to the extremist sect. It disclosed that over 4,000 drums and jerry cans of petroleum products and other smuggled items meant for the terrorists were intercepted.
The following month, the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC) announced that some of the Boko Haram terrorists have started making contacts with the Centre to help initiate a dialogue process with the Federal Government on their behalf. Executive Secretary of the CCC, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas (rtd), said: “The efforts by some members of the group to get across to the Centre and the discussions we have had, have been encouraging. We have taken measures also to ascertain the genuineness or otherwise of these persons. We believe they are ready for genuine dialogue.”
In the early days of the arms procurement scandal for the nation’s military shortly after Directorate of State Security (DSS) operatives raided his homes in Sokoto and Abuja in August, former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) released images of the weaponry procured by the Jonathan administration in which he served. He listed the acquisitions to include Alpha jets, Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, advanced artillery pieces, assorted arms and ammunitions, highly sophisticated surveillance drones, T72 main battle tank, stressing that the administration carried out modification of F7 supersonic jet fighters.
Courtesy of a British Broadcasting Service (BBC) Hausa Service interview, President Buhari explained to Nigerians in the month of September why he carried out appointments many claim are “lopsided” and are tilted to favour the President’s northern part of the country. He pointed out in the interview that the Constitution allowed him full control over the choice of his closest officials, explaining: “If I select people whom I know quite well in my political party, whom we came all the way right from the APP, CPC and APC, and have remained together in good or bad situation, the people I have confidence in and I can trust them with any post, will that amount to anything wrong?”
In fulfillment of his pledge that he would appoint ministers in the month of September, the President on the last day of the month submitted a list of his ministerial nominees to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki after the Upper Chamber adjourned for the day.
The list had the long-time associates of the President, politicians, as well as technocrats with no known political affiliations. The nomination of the immediate past governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, was vehemently opposed by Senators from his state such that the Senate’s public petitions committee was tasked to investigate the petitions written against his nomination and that of others. On the day, the Senate was to confirm the screening of Amaechi and 17 others, members of the PDP in the upper chamber staged a walk-out after they unsuccessfully tried to convince their APC counterparts to heed the recommendations of the public petitions committee by not confirming Amaechi as minister.
But, Nigerians had to wait till November for the inauguration of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the assignment of portfolios to the new ministers. The month also witnessed the sad news of the demise of the APC governorship candidate in Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu. He died the same day the November 21 governorship election was declared inconclusive by INEC. The Returning Officer, Prof. Emmanuel Kucha declared the election inconclusive because the margin of votes with which Audu defeated his closest rival, Governor Idris Wada, was less than the 49, 953 number of cancelled votes. Though INEC has concluded the Kogi governorship election, the complications arising from the incident are yet to be resolved.
The month of December witnessed another inconclusive election; this time in Bayelsa State. It was declared inconclusive following the eruption of violence in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, which is believed to be a swing local government.
During the year, a number of prominent citizens including royal fathers and politicians lost their lives. Some of the deceased passed away suddenly and unexpectedly, while others went quietly. Other prominent Nigerians who lost their lives in 2015, aside from Prince Audu, are: Emir of Gusau, Alhaji Muhammad Kabir Danbaba (March 5); the Special Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Research, Documentation and Strategy, Oronto Douglas (April 19); the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade (July 28); former Ambassador to the United States of America Adebowale Adefuye (August 27); . the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II (September 5); and the wife of the late nationalist, Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo (September 19). The list also includes: former Bayelsa State governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (October 10); the Emir of Borgu, Senator Haliru Dantoro Kitoro III (October 10); and athe Tor Tiv, Alfred Akawe Torkula (November 23).
