Tuesday 5 March 2019

THE 2019 PRESIDENTIAL & NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA

Dr. Dayo Oluyemi-Kusa as Lead Analyst in the Election Situation Room (ESR) of the West Africa Network for Peace-building (WANEP) during Nigeria's 2019 Presidential & National Assembly Elections

The Presidential and National Assembly Elections were held in Nigeria on the 23rd of February 2019 after a one week postponement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Election Management Body (EMB). Many voters traveled with the intention of voting where they registered. They did so before the initial election date of 16th February, 2019. Alas! I woke up to the middle of the night to the announcement by the INEC Chairman about 3am, three hours before the commencement of polls that the elections had been postponed. The loss in monetary terms to INEC, international & local observers, businesses, etc was humongous. The postponement led to a level of voter apathy. However, in the patriotic spirit, many voters repeated their trip to enable them vote.

Dr. Dayo Oluyemi-Kusa on Africa Independent TV (AIT) on the eve of the Presidential & NASS elections discussing the socio-political and economic implications of the postponement of the elections.

According to INEC, a winner has emerged. Muhammadu Buhari of the APC won 15,191,847 votes while Atiku Abubakar of the PDP came second with 11,262,978 votes. The PDP is set to challenge the results in court! Meanwhile, the APC candidate has been given the certificate of return by INEC. YIAGA Africa, which conducted a parallel vote count using the Parallel Vote Technology (PVT) came to the conclusion that official results fall within the PVT estimated ranges. But the PDP insists that it has enough evidence to go to court. Former President Abdulsalami Abubakar's Peace Committee has since embarked on shuttle diplomacy between the leadership of the PDP and APC. But this does not seem to be yielding much result in the direction of brokering peace out of court.

Dr. Dayo Oluyemi-Kusa in YIAGA's PVT Centre, Abuja. L-R: Cynthia Mbamalu (Programme Director, YIAGA, Ryan Dalton (Senior Programme Officer, NDI) & Dr. Dayo Oluyemi-Kusa

I am not a card-carrying member of any political party in Nigeria. However, I am a patriotic Nigerian and Conflict Transformation Expert interested in the peace and development of Nigeria before, during and after elections. I believe the Courts should be last resort in any election dispute. This is the time when all well-meaning Chartered Mediators/Conciliators like me should arise and see how we can assist the Peace Committee to help the two leading political parties close ranks, while the APC constitutes an inclusive government in the interest of our dear country, Nigeria. However, if all effort to broker peace outside the Courts fails, then I am still confident that we have enough incorruptible judges who would weigh the evidence and deliver sound judgement.

I intend to watch this space in the coming months...

                          Dr. Dayo Oluyemi-Kusa in full regalia as Election Observer/Analyst...

              Dr. Dayo Oluyemi-Kusa (Lead Analyst) with the Analysis team in the ESR of WANEP

Related Links

*Is Nigeria about to become the next Venezuela? The signs are not good   https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/03/05/nigeria-become-next-venezuela-signs-not-good/
*Why does Nigeria need Peace Accords before elections? Roots of Nigeria's election violence   https://issafrica.org/iss-today/roots-of-nigerias-election-violence
*2019 polls: Increasing consideration for PWDs   https://leadership.ng/.../2019-polls-increasing-consideration-for-pwds
*Credible elections: How telephones played a major role in vote buying   sunnewsonline.com/credible-elections...
*Aperiod of consequences   https://guardian.ng/opinion/a-period-of-consequences
*Nigeria Army parades 11 NYSC members, 43 others over electoral fraud   a.today.ng/p/154633
*The Socialist policy of envy: What the world can learn from Nigeria's unfolding disaster   https://www.ccn.com/the-socialist-politics-of-envy-what-the-world-can-learn-from-nigerias-unfolding-disaster/
*Nigeria's winners and losers - from godfathers to rappers   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47400317
*The challenge of electoral management in Nigeria   https://kujenga-amani.ssrc.org/2019/02/22/the-challenge-of-electoral-management-in-nigeria
*Post election: 5 security challenges facing Nigeria   https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/02/5-security-challenges-facing-nigerias-leadership/
*Polls: Vote cancellation higher than 2015   https://www.sunnewsonline.com/polls-vote-cancellation-higher-than-2015-yiaga-africa/
*Why Nigeria's election won't change anything   https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/22/opinion/nigeria-elections-corruption-economy.html
*YIAGA Africa calls for systematic post-election review   https://t.co/lAicgOGCER
*What we learnt from the Nigerian election   https://www.bb.com/news/amp/world-africa-47385552-twitter-impression...
*Is Africa going backwards on democracy?   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46971250
*Buhari re-elected Nigeria's President   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa...
*Why Nigeria's generation democracy didn't vote   https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-47122192
*The international community and Nigeria's 2019 elections   https://kujenga-amani.ssrc.org/2019/02/15/the-international-community-and-nigerias-2019-elections/
*Women and NIgeria's 2019 elections   https://kujenga-amani.ssrc.org/2019/02/15/women-and-nigerias-2019-elections
*Displaced but not disenfranchised? IDPs & the 2019 general elections in Nigeria   https://kujenga-amani.ssrc.org/2019/02/15/displaced-but-not-disenfranchised-idps-and-the-2019-nigerian-elections/
*Nigeria's 2019 elections in perspective   https://kujenga-amani.ssrc.org/2019/02/15/special-issue-nigerias-2019-elections-in-perspective
*Nigeria's governance progress is lagging behind demographic growth and expectations of youth population   mo.ibrahim.foundation/news/2018/african-governance-progress-lagging-behind-demographic-growth...
*Election observer shot dead in Enugu during the 2019 Gubernatorial elections   https://www.thecable.ng/breaking-election-observer-shot-dead-in-enugu/
*Electoral dysfunction: Why democracy is always unfair   https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627581-400-electoral-dysfunction-why-democracy-is-always-unfair/
*A young generation of divided voices: The 2019 elections and the fate of the Nigerian youths   https://www.panafricanvisions.com/2019/a-young-generation-of-divided-voices-the-2019-election-and-the-fate-of-the-nigerian-youths
*Atiku not a Nigerian, APC tells Presidential Elections Tribunal   https://wp.me/p2LdGt-1mAP
*20 'winning women' who lost 2019 elections tell their stories   https://www.yiaga.org/20-winning-women-who-lost-2019-election/  #ReadyToRun  #EU4DemocracyNG
*How women fared in the 2019 elections   https://www.cddwestafrica.org/how-women-fared-in-the-2019-elections/
*The 2019 elections and declining women's participation representation   https://skydaily.ng/2019-elections-and-declining-women-representation...
*Voter apathy in Nigeria clouds President Buhari's second term   https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-29/voter-apathy-clouds-buhari-s-second-term...   https://t.co/Rrp53w8bqZ





   

     

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