As Nigerians Go To Polls Again

The 2015 Presidential election has come and gone
leaving Nigerians with great lessons.
According to the Chief Returning Officer of the nation and Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, Retired General Muhammadu Buhari emerged victorious after polling 15,424,921 while incumbent President, Doctor Goodluck Ebele Jonathan recorded 12,853,162.
Speaking shortly before declaring retired General Buhari winner of the 2015 Presidential  General Election, Professor  Jega further explained that the former military ruler General Muhammadu Buhari met the twenty five per cent requirement of electoral law in twenty seven states of the federation while the outgoing President, Doctor Jonathan met the requirement in twenty six states.
Interestingly, General Muhammadu Buhari won more votes in most of the Northern and Eastern Nigeria with no victory in any state of South-South and South-East.
Outgoing President Goodluck swept the South-South and South East, one state in the West and three others in the north, particularly north central states of Plateau, Taraba and Nasarawa States.
In summary, therefore, the outgoing President, Doctor Jonathan won in fifteen states while the victorious Muhammadu Buhari won in twenty one states, a development that clearly exhibits a radical departure from the 2011 situation.
However, all that is history.  What would ever remain indelible on the sand of time is the fact that for the first time in the history of Nigeria an incumbent President is not only defeated but conceded defeat. In other words, he accepted that General Buhari defeated him.
Evidence shows that President Goodluck Jonathan actually called retired General Muhammadu Buhari on telephone and congratulated him on his victory and conceded defeat even before the final declaration of results by INEC.
Better still, President Jonathan also addressed the nation in a broadcast where he advised his supporters and indeed all Nigeians to tow the part of peace while reaffirming his popular dictum that the political ambition of any politician does not worth the blood of any Nigerian.
Similarly, President Jonathan quickly reached out to aggrieved supporters and by implication PDP members to choose the part of honour only by taking advantage of the provisions of the constitution and electoral law to seek possible redress. President Jonathan clearly distanced himself from post election violence.
As if that was not enough, Jonathan called on his party, PDP not to mourn but rejoice, emphasizing that he promised a free and fair election, pointing out that he has kept his words.
To this end, President Jonathan has displayed a rare spirit of sportsmanship and statesmanship uncommon in African political culture.
In fact, the former PDP National Chairman Audu Ogbe asserted: “Retired General Muhammadu Buhari won the election but President Jonathan won Peace”.
To say the least, the display of sportsmanship and statesmanship has helped to engender the required peace across the nation in place of bloodletting.
It has also proved all prophets of doom wrong, particularly those who said Nigeria would disintegrate after the 2015 general elections.
Despite claims of irregularities by the two major political parties, APC and PDP, alike, there has not been any reported case of clash between their supporters arising from the declaration of results.
The only reported case of death arising from the election is probably the death of APC supporters in Kano, in the course of celebration of the victory and not due to post election violence as predicted by prophets of doom.
However, there is one more hurdle to overcome.
As the gubernatorial election takes centre stage tomorrow the next task would be how to replicate the gains of the presidential election in affected states.
This is because President Jonathan has set a very high standard where he demystified the pains and shame of defeat in a keenly unattested presidential election.
Prior to President Jonathan’s conduct, post election violence had been a major challenge in Nigeria’s Political history from independence.
Indeed, central to the conduct of a peaceful, free and fair governorship election is the invaluable roles INEC which is the organiser of the polls.
Thus, it must ensure that it makes conscious effort to fine-tune and correct all logistical challenges that almost marred the Presidential and National Assemble elections.
These challenges included late arrival of sensitive materials and INEC officials, malfunctioning of Smart Card Readers, Voting in the night and underage voting among others.
For instance, President Goodluck Jonathan himself has his fair share of care reader palaver.
He displayed humility and patience by waiting for about an hour before he and his wife Dame Patience Jonathan were accredited in Otueke, Bayelsa State.
Although, the former Minister of Niger Delta Ministry, Elder Gooday Orubebe has been blamed for misconduct at the National Collation Centre for which he has since apologized, the fact remains that Elder Orubebe observed and alleged the Professor Jega’s INEC set up a committee to investigate alleged case of irregularity in Rivers State but did not accept the petition of PDP over underage voting in parts of the north as well as the presentation of his own copy of already prepared, result which  the APC published on its website and that the various presentations by returning officers from the states confirmed to the printed copy in his possession.
The police and indeed security agents must be applauded for their superlative handling of affairs at the National Collation Centre Abuja and it is hoped that the guber polls shall experience same as attention shifts to the states.
Nigerians therefore are looking forward to governorship aspirants who will emulate the footsteps of President Jonathan who conceded defeat even before the final results were declared rather than resorting to making unguarded comments that may lead to breakdown of law and order or boil the already tensed polity.
Truly, the stakes are high but the common denominator is peace and nothing but peace.
Since the bar of statesmanship has been raised through the exemplary conduct of President Goodluck Jonathan in March 28 Polls, the standard bearers of various political parties at the state level should support Nigeria in deepening democracy in Africa and make Nigeria truly the giant of Africa.
The time to act is now.
Baridorn Sika is Public Affairs Analyst in Port Harcourt.

By Baridorn Sika