BY Sodiq Yusuff
“Oh my God, you again?”
Don’t be surprised if President Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari greet each other that way ahead of the 2015 presidential election. It is a rematch of old foes: both of them squared off in 2011, and Jonathan drew the first blood. Who will draw the second blood this time around?
Buhari, a former military head of state and retired general, has been the biggest bone in the ruling party’s throat since 2003, when he first ran in the presidential race. Then, he faced President Olusegun Obasanjo (PDP) in what was expected to be a very tough election. But at the end of the day, Obasanjo defeated him in what observers described as a sham of an election. While PDP scored 24,456,140 votes, representing 61.94% of the ballot, Buhari (as the candidate of All Nigeria Peoples Party), got 12,710,022 or 32.19%. Buhari went to court, but also lost the legal battle.
In 2007, Buhari ran again on the ticket of ANPP, this time coming against a fellow Katsina man, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Again, he lost, scoring 6,605,299 or 18.72%, while Yar’Adua got 24,638,063 votes, representing 69.82%. The election was flawed again, but Buhari lost his case in court.
In 2011, Buhari gave it another shot, this time as the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). He faced Jonathan (PDP) for the first time, and while he did very well in the core north, Jonathan beat him roundly in the south and north central. Jonathan had 22,495,187 votes, or 58.89% while Buhari secured 12,214,853 votes or 31.98%. There was violence in parts of the north as results were being awaited, and hundreds of people lost their lives in the process, most notably members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). He went to court and lost again.
They are now going to have rematch on February 14, 2015.
This is Buhari’s fourth attempt. He has failed thrice. Will he make it fourth time lucky? His supporters are hopeful. For the first time, the opposition in Nigeria is united. Three major opposition parties came together to form APC, thereby giving Buhari a broader national base than in the previous elections.
As the countdown begins, here is a dossier on the two candidates.
| Age | 71 |
| Birthday | December 17 |
| State | Katsina |
| Education | Military training in Kaduna as well as in UK, India and US |
| Public service career | Retired as a major general; former minister of petroleum; former military head of state; former military governor of north-eastern state; former executive chairman of PTF |
| Political career | Nil |
| Electoral failures | 2003, 2007, 2011 presidential elections |
| Electoral successes | Nil |
| Campaign promises | Anti-graft war, value reorientation and security |
| Support base | Core North, parts of north central,parts of south-west, Rivers, Edo and Imo |
| Social media | 145,000 likes on Facebook |
| Quotable quote | “This generation of Nigeria and indeed future generations have no other country than Nigeria. We shall remain here and salvage it together” |
| Age | 57 |
| Birthday | November 20 |
| State | Bayelsa |
| Education | BSc zoology; MSc hydrobiology and fisheries biology; PhD zoology (all University of Port Harcourt) |
| Public service career | Assistant director, OMPADEC |
| Political career | Bayelsa deputy governor (1999-2005), governor (2005-2007), vice-president (2007-2010), acting president (2010-2011), president (2010 till date) |
| Electoral failures | Nil |
| Electoral successes | 2011 presidential poll |
| Campaign promises | Reinforce institutions and systems, and tackle corruption |
| Support base | South-south, south-east, parts of south-west and parts of north-central |
| Social media | 1,726,975 likes on Facebook |
| Quotable quote | “We cannot go back to the old ways where individual freedoms were trampled upon and citizens were locked up for expressing their views or criticising government” |
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