[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
With barely six months to the general elections of Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria, the political tension in the country continues to heighten as the days draw near. With over 90 registered political parties poised to feature in the elections, Nigeria is no doubt, one of the African countries with a highly diversified multi- party democratic system. However, within the last eight years, the party system has tilted towards a two-party fiasco as the battle for the seat of the presidency and other top spots is keenly contested between the two biggest political parties in the country; The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress – APC .
The results of the primaries recently conducted by both parties reveal that the APC which is the current ruling party, intends to return its flag bearer and the nation’s current President, Muhammadu Buhari , to power come 2019. The PDP on the other hand, has former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate .
Under the regime of the septuagenarian, President Buhari, the country has retrogressed much more than it has progressed. Nigeria has become the poverty capital of the world with extreme cases of severe hunger, malnourishment and death; with increased borrowing and debts to astronomical levels, skyrocketed population of unemployed youths, a hotbed for corruption and a domain for insurgency with millions of lives lost so far in terrorist related attacks in the last three and half years. To many objective Nigerians, the presidency has failed and is believed largely to be unfit to pilot the affairs of the nation for any longer than already done.
Unfortunately, the APC regardless has opted to still field a medically unstable individual as its flag bearer with the belief that more time is needed to effect the changes promised that are yet unfulfilled by the party. The question all well meaning Nigerians must then ask is: Why is the APC so confident Mr. President would return to office come 2019 despite the obvious failures of his administration so far?
One may not be wrong to suggest that President Buhari’s defiance and persistence to remain in power is due to the observed fortified alliance he has formed with the country’s armed forces and security operatives to use them as tools for the accomplishment of selfish political aims against the choice of the populace. This theory is proven by the relay of events that played out in the Osun and Ekiti governorship elections.
Also, the president and the entire APC cabal also plan to massively rig their way to power at all cost through massive vote buying, result forgery/falsification, intimidation, bribery and corruption. The successful puppeteering of the nation’s supposedly “ INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION(INEC) through nepotism is an evidence as it is indeed a prerequisite to the attainment of the party’s grand plan.
The choice of Atiku and Peter Obi , his running mate, as PDP’s candidates for the number one seat in the federation has been described by some of the country’s political elites as a masterstroke and a brewing storm for the ruling party. Inasmuch as the duo seem to be a sign of hope for Nigeria’s democracy of almost two decades, Nigerians are no longer interested in political parties but the people of substance these parties project and what would be brought to the table. Which ever party eventually wins at the polls has a lot of work to do to uncover, upturn and successfully beat the APC to their game.
Nigerians are tired of failed promises and for the first time in a long time are ready to protect their future by voting right come 2019.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
