The election
season is here again...but wait, we’ve been having elections off and on in various
states ever since Maurice Iwu’s 2007 widely disputed Iwuruwuru
(s)elections and the subsequent tribunal judgements that trailed almost
every state election, led to deviations from the regular standard gubernatorial
elections calendar. But this time around, in addition to the remaining states’
governorship elections, we have the big one- the presidential elections coming
up in February next year. The drama and excitement are steadily building up. Are
you excited yet?
Quite
interestingly, noise about the elections had been very few and far between,
mainly because our incumbent, Oga Jona, wasn’t very keen on declaring his
interest early on (or maybe, he just pretended he wasn’t very interested in
occupying Aso rock a second time and therefore, will need to consult or be persuaded before taking up the thankless but highly enriching task
of leading Nigeria again); and also because the APC guys were still shuffling
their feet, trying not to step on each other’s toes, in this very important
event that will be make-or-break for the party (I mean, let’s be frank, the
main purpose of the formation of APC by the PDP castaways was to grab Nigeria’s
central seat of power from their former party).
But in the
past one month, Buhari’s announcement of his intention to be president, which
seemed to suddenly wake GEJ (and PDP) from slumber and enable him to conclude consultations and finally get “convinced”
to contest the coming elections, has led to plenty of the much-anticipated
noise and debate about the February presidential elections. Suddenly, news and
social media are discussing the elections with more gusto. Suddenly, the coming
elections has become the major topic of discussion during lunch break at
workplaces, among okada riders at
their stands, and among bus commuters sweating in Lagos traffic. Suddenly, it
doesn’t seem like GEJ will have a smooth-sailing ride to victory in the
elections. Suddenly, APC does look like it will put up a fight in the coming
elections. Suddenly Buhari looks like the man to beat- or be beaten again.
