Except
the August 6, 1983 presidential election, every presidential election
in Nigeria has ended in the courts. That of August 11, 1979 was worse.
On
August 15, 1979, the returning officer in the election, Chief Fredrick
Louis Menkiti, announced the results of the election. In the results,
Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria scored 5,668,857
votes while Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the Unity Party of Nigeria scored
4,916,951 votes; Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe of the Nigerian Peoples Party scored
2,822,523; Alhaji Aminu Kano of the People’s Redemption Party got
1,732,113 votes and Alhaji Ibrahim Waziri of the Great Nigeria People’s
Party, 1,686,489 votes. After the results were announced, Awolowo
challenged the results with Chief Abraham Adesanya as his lead counsel
while Chief Richard Osuolale Abimbola Akinjide defended Alhaji Shehu
Shagari.
I covered the tribunal and the Supreme
Court judgment for THE PUNCH 36 years ago. At the Supreme Court,
delivered just a few days before the inauguration, Justice Kayode Esho
gave the minority judgment in favour of Chief Awolowo while the majority
judgment was delivered by Mr. Justice Atanda Fatai Williams in favour
of Shagari.
But in the August 6, 1983, presidential election, it
was a different ball game; Shagari scored 12,081,471 while Awolowo
scored 7,902,209 and Azikwe 3,557,113; Aminu Kano 968,974; Waziri
Ibrahim 646,806 and Mr. Tunji Braithwaite of the Nigerian Advance Party
scored 271,524. Awolowo decided not to challenge the result insisting
that if Nigerians needed him they knew where to find him. He thereafter
settled in Ikenne, his hometown and on May 9, 1987, he answered the
final call. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “I have no ambition to
govern men. It is a painful and thankless office.”
In the
February 27, 1999, presidential election, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of the
Peoples Democratic Party had 18,738,154 votes as against those of Chief
Olu Falae of the Alliance for Democracy who scored 11,110,287 votes.
Falae did not accept the result of the election. The regime of Gen
Abdusalami Abubakar who wanted to quit government in time had to summon
the traditional ruler of the Akure Kingdom where Falae comes from,
Kabiyesi Adebobajo Adesida, the then Deji of Akure, to Abuja to persuade
Falae to withdraw the suit. He refused and for his refusal till today,
both Obasanjo and Falae are not on speaking terms. The enmity between
both men still lingers.
In the April 19, 2003, election,
Obasanjo scored 24,456,140 votes while Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari scored
12,710,022 votes and the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Chief Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu-Ojukwu of the All Progressive Grand Alliance had 1,297,445
votes, Jim Nwobodo of the UNPP scored 169,609 votes, Chief Gani
Fawehinmi of the Conscience Party 161,333 votes, Sarah Jubrin of the
Progressive Action Congress 157,560 votes, Gen Ike Nwachukwu of National
Democratic Party 132,197 votes, Chris Okotie of Justice Party 109,547
votes, Alhaji Balarabe Musa of the Peoples Redemption Party 100,765
votes, Arthur Nwankwo of the People’s Mandate, 57,720 votes, Emmanuel
Okereke of the All People Liberation Party, 26,921 votes, Kalu Idika
Kalu of the New Nigeria People’s Party 23,830 votes and Alhaji Muhammadu
Dikko Yusuf, a former Inspector-General of Police of the Movement for
Democracy and Justice scored 21,403 votes. Buhari went to court to
challenge the results of the election. The Supreme Court finally decided
in favour of Obasanjo.
In the April 21, 2007 presidential
election, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua of the PDP had 24,638,063 votes as
against Buhari/Edwin Ume-Ezeoke of the All Nigeria Peoples Party who
scored 6,605,299 votes. Both Yar’Adua and Buhari are from the same
Katsina State. It was the first time in the history that both candidates
are from the same state. The presidential disputes ended in the Supreme
Court with Chief Wole Olanipekun as the lead counsel for Yar’Adua.
In
the April 9 2011 election, the PDP duo of Jonathan/Sambo had 22,495,187
votes while the duo of Buhari/Bakare of the Congress for Progressive
Change scored 12,214,853 votes. Buhari challenged the outcome of the
results and it ended in the Supreme Court.
In a few hours’ time,
Nigerians shall march to vote for the March 28, 2015 presidential
election. It is on record that no incumbent President has ever lost any
election in Nigeria. But there are examples in Africa. In the April 1991
presidential election in the Republic of Benin, President Mathieu
Kerekou lost to Nicephore Soglo. Also in 1991, President Kenneth Kaunda
of Zambia lost to Frederick Chiluba. Just last September, Michael Suta
of Zambia defeated the Multi Party Democratic that has been in power for
20 years with President Rupia Banda conceding defeat. All eyes will
definitely be on Nigeria before and after tomorrow’s election.
It
is to be seen whether the presidential election will bring peace or
chaos to Nigeria. So much has been written about Saturday’s election in
Nigeria-the anxiety, alarms and the innuendos. Definitely, one person
must lose and another must win. Defeat can be injurious but definitely
there is life after defeat. Nothing pains a politician more than losing
an election.
When I think of presidential elections, the one
that comes to my mind is the 1968 Convention of the Democratic Party
held in Chicago in the United States.
After withdrawing from
recontesting against the incumbent President, Lyndon Johnson became so
unpopular that he was not even invited by his party to the Convention.
He thereafter lamented, “I’ve never felt lower in my life. How do you
think it feels to be completely rejected by the party you’ve spent your
life with, knowing that your name cannot be mentioned without choruses
of boos and obscenities? How would you feel? It makes me feel that
nothing’s been worth it. And I’ve tried. Things may not have turned out
as you wanted or even as I wanted. But God knows I’ve tried. And I’ve
given it my best all these years. I woke up at six and worked until one
or two in the morning every day, Saturdays and Sundays. And it comes to
this. It just doesn’t seem fair.”
Presidents too have their own
lamentation. They are not invincible. They are like the rest of us.
Power belongs not to the individuals but to the people. The people in
their wisdom have to choose whom they are to endow the power with.
As
we head to the polls tomorrow, the two major contenders in the election
need to be reminded of the eternal words of Albert Einstein, “The state
is made for man, not man for the state.” Meaning, win or lose, Nigeria
remains bigger than all of us.
- Eric Teniola, a former director at The Presidency
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