Voting with data

The greatest take-away from this election is the political maturity and sagacity of the north, compared to the south - with a high record of violence in the usual suspects states of Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi, mostly the South South states; with a surprising break of violence from Lagos, supposedly the most advanced state in the country. In Rivers state, military men paraded some suspected fake INEC staff working with some thugs in military uniforms to disrupt and manipulate the conduct of the elections.

In Ebonyi state, Governor Umahi lamented that “our people are good politically only on social media but when it comes to voting, they sit at home”, as he decried the low voter turn-out in the south as against the northern part of the country despite the millions of PVCs collected. Notwithstanding, the few cases of irregularities in the South South and the South East, President Buhari’s party made massive forays into the PDP strongholds, getting an APC senator in each of Abia, Bayelsa and Delta states.

The most courageous supporters of Buhari are those that come from the SS and SE block, thwarting the volumes of votes that the PDP had always presented in block for its presidential candidates over time. They gave President Buhari over 800 thousand votes from the South South states alone, breaking the monopoly of the PDP in that region. PDP had a stronger showing in the South eastern states, most notable Enugu and Anambra states. Surely, they deserve the most prestigious and appreciative recognition in the Next Level of the ruling APC, alongside states like Kano, Jigawa and of course Katsina state.

A testament of how well the security situation in the North East has improved is not in the figures the APC got as votes; but the peace that reigned throughout the electoral process, up to the collation of results, which is far more reassuring than any propaganda anyone would mount to attest to that. There was a report of some attempts in the early hours of the Election Day in Maiduguri, before the break of dawn - but the military had effortlessly diffused that threat, in collaboration with the Air force that provided aerial surveillance. The people of the North east voted in millions, of course including Bauchi and Gombe states, especially Gombe, a PDP state, was swept by the APC as it won the presidential elections as well as all House of Representatives and Senate seats. The PDP narrowly escaped with a slim margin in Adamawa State but also lost Taraba which is a PDP state.

Online polls and social media influencers like Reno Omokri, Dele Momodu, Editi Effiong, Ben Bruce Murray, Femi Fani Kayode and even the singer Davido, were captains of Nigeria’s media space, predicting Atiku’s victory. The Kano showing of Kwankwaso and Atiku was also disturbing to the APC faithful, as Kano turned red for Atiku. Had it been that INEC had carried out the elections electronically or based on social media frenzy and polls, Atiku would have been the one waiting for a congratulatory call from Buhari. Those with data for online propagation of fake news and propaganda are not the ones that vote eventually. While we were all dusting our PVCS and doing our in-house accreditation to make sure we were good to go, travelling back to Nigeria from all over the world, doing 400 kilometres to and fro, and repeating that after the postponement -- Atikulates were busy leaving the country. Some were even away the whole time, typing from God knows where, prophesising that Buhari was surely to lose.

The masses are the ones with the votes and they have exercised that power over the elites that are moaning and mourning in the Buhari era once again. Those with our national treasury as elixir have been the core anti Buharists, tweaking economic indices, fore-telling tales of how we were or are better off without a Buhari, meanwhile, it’s all been about the continued sale of public enterprise for personal gain -- in a manner that fleeces the poor of a right to better living. The question I put to the Atikulates is this, would Atiku have the American University, Faro and other Beverage Industries, INTELS, and a host of other investments, had he not been Vice-President and commander in chief of the Privatisation programme of the Obasanjo Administration? How come OBJ spoke so much ill of Atiku in a corruptive way over a span of 8 years? Wasn’t it glaring that OBJ ate his words out of the fear of being incarcerated by his co-military man just the way Abacha did?

O’ to ge’ (enough is enough) has seen to the retirement of Saraki in Kwara, spreading to other states nationwide, taking Obasanjo under the bus, consuming Governor Ajimobi, removing Kwankwaso’s red cap, and producing Senators and House of Representative members from otherwise unknown parties nationwide such as 2 to 3 House memberselect in Bauchi State from the PRP.

Congratulations to Mr. President and a job well done for campaigning in all the 36 states of the federation, where the opposition could only cover 19; all the while pointing at you as the feeble one. A 4 million votes - gap was the base Baba, and you hit it well! Your supporters, North and South, East and West have taken a lot of heat for you, this time like never before because this time you are a President as opposed to being an opposition candidate before now. I pray that you take stock of all that transpired through your first term with a view to making overhauls, amendments and re-directions to reflect the dreams and ambitions of your most ardent fans. Today Mr. President, you are a favourite in Benue state just as much as you are in Adamawa. Please, Baba, do not let us down and leave us to the fangs of the Omokris out there. Make the Next Level a brand new level for Nigeria as a whole, amen.

Tahir I. Tahir is the Talban Bauchi.