The consequences of election: Nigeria, U.S. as case study

Prior to the 2015 general election, Nigeria was doing far better than it is today with Goodluck Ebele Jonathan at the helm of affairs, though considered weak by the United Kingdom (UK) government and its then prime Minister, David Cameron who played a major role in Jonathan’s defeat after he got Mr. Barack Obama the then United States President’s backing to undermine Jonathan’s ability to do things right. It will not be fair for anyone to see foreign government as culpable forces in the kidnap of Chibok girls or Jonathan as being too weak to defend his own country. Likewise, it would be unreasonable for anyone not to support the call for the Borno State government, vigilantes, the police, youth leaders, influential young men to answer burning questions on how the dreaded Islamic militant got into the school, spent hours and took away 219 girls without a fight, a place where military are not far from.

An article by Douglas Anele, in the Vanguard, November 2015 stated: “In the weeks and months leading up to the March 28 presidential election, the APC was more successful than its rival in projecting the hyperbolic narrative of a national party-fielding a tested and trusted presidential candidate. Even so, Buhari’s electoral victory was partly due to alleged massive rigging in Northern Nigeria, a fact several self-appointed pro-democracy activists and champions of good governance conveniently ignored or pretended to be unimportant both for assessing the quality of the electoral process that led to Buhari’s emergence as President and for the character of governance that would emerge afterwards.

Certainly, not all votes credited to Jonathan, especially in the South East and South South, were validly obtained. However, to appreciate the level of rigging that led to his defeat, consider the presidential election results declared in Kano State, a state that is among the educationally less developed states.

According to the results, out of 2.3 million votes cast, Buhari had a whopping 1.9 million, whereas slightly over 200,000 votes were credited to Jonathan. Interestingly, the Returning Officer (a Professor) who announced these apparently fictitious figures also claimed there were no voided votes, no single wrongly filled ballot paper! Only fanatical Buharimaniacs and gullible Nigerians accept without question the obviously manufactured results from Kano State.
 
Douglas further stated: “In my view, exaggerated praises of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) led by Professor Attahiru Jega are unwarranted given the significant logistic problems that attended the elections nationwide and numerous cases of electoral malpractices perpetrated by the two dominant parties in their areas of influence with the connivance of INEC officials and security personnel.’’
     
Now, Buhari, a perceived messiah started failing the test and let few of his educated supporters down when he failed to appoint members of his cabinet until sixth month into his presidency and when he does, he picked mediocrities and those who are ready to deliver were saddled with too many responsibility like Babatunde Fashola who was given three portfolios “Minister of Power, Works and Housing, which in a standard measurement, has failed to deliver, rating him with foreign standard; his first appointment, Babachir Lawal who was appointed SGF, an office considered to be one of the most important messed up. Where is Bartholomew Nnaji, the innovator and one of the inventors of the E-Design concept, the one we simply refer to as Bart Nnaji.

Has he naturalised to Senegal to eat the best jollof rice or aligned with our arch-river Ghana in the fight of who makes the best jollof rice? Maybe he pitched his tent with them. I think by now, that matter has been laid to rest by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed who settled the matter in the court of CNN anchor, Richard quest? Sorry if this is strange to you, call Alhaji Lai, he’s a public asset and he will explain to you why his judgement favoured Senegal who was not party to the case and became famous unexpectedly in that regard. Bart is a genius any responsible government should have given the portfolio of Power minister for his record in his short time as minister of power under the Jonathan’s government. If you don’t know, go and ask people that worked under him in the ministry and they will tell you how serious the Enugu born engineer was to ensure a Nigeria with stable electricity.
 
By God mercy and people’s support, I completed my tertiary education not long ago despite the ups and downs, but that is not the case here. I can only supply anyone who needed my credentials with my details, to avoid Dino Melaye drama.

Nigeria fell like the morning star, from buying polythene bag in February 2015 N10 but now N30, bag of rice N8000 to 23,000, Garri price now triples, there are more items: Jonathan was not a sound leader as expected but he surrounded himself with few ministers who didn’t only speak the Queen’s English but get things done without speaking too many phonetics; star in Agriculture sector, Akinwumi Adesina, who was the minister of Agriculture, now the President of the African Development Bank (AFDB); Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, former minister of Finance and the coordinating minister of the economy whose name is still being mentioned erroneously by some Nigerians as the minister of Finance even in 2017.
Nigeria is in dire need of men who understand things and ready to be surrounded by 21st century thinkers, who will not do things to suit themselves but in the country’s favour, equal opportunity above nepotism.

U.S. on the other side was getting most of its foreign policies like the Iran Nuclear deal, restoration of ties with Cuba, among others right before Donald Trump was elected.

Trump’s victory, though was unpredictable, same way the current political crises was also not expected because only few believed he was going to be the next president of the United States of America. Trump became the U.S. president and is rolling back the Obama policies, one of which is causing uproar both in the country and outside the border: Obamacare
Daniel wrote from Lagos.