#NigeriaDecides2015: Meet the… Biggest Election Losers (1)

The 2015 general elections have come and gone though the national electoral body is yet to make final pronouncements on the governorship election in three states. STANLEY NKWOCHA takes a look at the biggest electoral losers.
2015, indeed, turned remarkable in the history of Nigeria. From the Presidential Villa in Abuja to several government houses, Senate and House of Representatives chambers, it is a gory tale of political losses for known political gladiators.
At the last count, about two-third of incumbent political office holders who contested elections lost out abruptly, while close associates are quite numerous. What could have resulted in the se loses?

2015 Polls: Biggest Losers

President Goodluck Jonathan Though President Jonathan turned the misfortune of his election in 2015 into statesmanship by quickly congratulating General Muhammadu Buhari who defeated him at the polls, he remains the biggest political loser in 2015.

His slip into having the ignominious record of being the first sitting president in Nigeria to lose a re-election bid, is not a chery news.
While many have attempted to explain why Jonathan lost the elections, human rights activist and renowned electoral observer, Mr Femi Aduwo, said while the clamour for change was evident, the PDP, as a political party, never helped itself especially with the greed and infightings that became the hallmark of the party.
He said: “It is because Nigerians want a change, not because APC is more credible. As you have criminals in PDP, you have them in APC – bad ones! But Nigerians just believe, ‘don’t take us for granted’. Let me give you a good example. In Ondo State, Mimiko is my good brother. When he returned to the PDP, some people had been on the ground building the party when he left. It was suicide mission to come back and take control of the party 100 per cent.
“If you have a party that is disciplined and the leaders are visionary, the leadership positions could have been shared by Mimiko and other members 50 – 50. Some of them have laboured for the party over the years to build Ondo State. What happened in the state was a pure protest vote. It is not that Mimiko did not work in Ondo – he worked but just because the elites believe in PDP, it should not be like this. If not, Ondo State could have given Jonathan nearly one million votes. Who knew APC in Ondo about two months ago, but it was purely protest votes,” Aduwo stated.
Vice President, Namadi Sambo
Prior to the 2015 elections, Namadi Sambo’s name popped up at several instances. While some opined that he was too politically weak to stand in as Jonathan’s running mate, names such as Katsina’s Ibrahim Shema and Sule Lamido of Jigawa kept popping up as likely replacements, so much so that at some points, suspicion and strained relationships became their lots.
The elections have come and gone and true to all fears, Sambo lacked the capacity to provide the answers and match for the Buhari ‘tsunami’ that swept across the north. Sambo, whose state governor,Yero, also lost his reelection bid as Kaduna State governor to the APC, must be in real shock as to what transpired.
PDP/ Adamu Mu’azu
The Peoples Democratic Party and it’s chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, were taken to the cleaners as 2015 confined the party and it’s chairman to an unsavoury part of our nation’s history.
While Nigerians looked forward to a rejuvenated PDP upon Mu’azu’s entry, having taken over from Bamanga Tukur, not many would disagree that perhaps, the choice of Mu’azu may have been a tactical blunder. While the PDP had boasted of it’s intention to hold onto power for 60 years, how it’s hold of the nation’s polity came crashing too early in the day – sadly under Mu’azu’s tenure as chairman, still remains a political mystery to the party and it’s chieftains.
But again, Aduwo attempts to explain what transpired, blaming the party and Mu’azu of opening the flanks of the PDP a bit too wide.
“Another thing, in the days of Bamanga Tukur, he disallowed the governors from handling the affairs of the party at their state levels, but when Mua’zu came, the governors hijacked the party at the state level by imposing candidates. Everybody knows that after Tukur left, there was a lot of desolation in the PDP. Five governors left and nothing was done about that; former president, Chief Obasabjo, who was in the Board of Trustees, left”, Aduwo again opined.
Dame Patience Jonathan
While some persons commended her efforts at mobilising support for her husband, President Jonathan’s wife – Dame’s role in 2015 remains a subject of debate as to its positivity or otherwise. Her fights early in the day with Rotimi Amaechi led the Rivers governor to dump the PDP for the APC. Shortly afterwards, he dragged the PDP into the muddy fighting sands at all fronts.
Her negative campaigns, especially with her “born troway’ remarks only became a meddlesome act into party affairs that further dwindled the fortunes of the party, with most party chieftains attributing her role at the elections to be a major reason for the fiasco which the elections turned out to be for the PDP.
Perhaps, Mama Peace’s solace would be in the delivery of Rivers State to the PDP. That she abstained from voting at the governorship and States’ Houses of Assembly election in Otuoke, preferring to stay put in her native Rivers for obvious reasons, says it all.
It would not be out of place if the first lady is still gnashing her teeth as she must have received the presidential election results with a shocker.
Femi Fani-Kayode
For this former minister of Aviation and a critic of President Jonathan, Fani-Kayode’s role in 2015 couldn’t have gone unnoticed and placed in its proper perspective.
The former staunch member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who fell apart with the party suddenly got saddled with the responsibility of marketing the Jonathan candidacy, no thanks to his appointment as director, Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation. It was, however, an appointment greeted with mixed feelings.
Though the APC seemed to have met it’s match in Fani-Kayode, the party must, at the moment, be having the last laugh, having won the elections. The hitherto APC chieftain would have no choice but to stay in the political dungeon, at least, for the next four years when, perhaps, he would have the opportunity to fight again. This is if he chooses to jettison defecting, a trait he is now famously garnering.
Again Aduwo minces no words for Fani- Kayode and the PDP, alluding that Fani-Kayode’s choice was a wrong one for the Jonathan campaign organisation.
“Who speaks what matters to me. How can Fani-Kayode come and be defending the same Jonathan he destroyed a year ago? How qualified is Fani-Kayode to defend the president? It is a blunder! And then when you see the APC, they look for professionals. Whether you like it or not, Dele Alake is a professional journalist. He did a lot of work. He talked less and did a good work, “ Aduwo submitted.
Babangida Aliyu
If Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State had joined the likes of Kwankwaso and Wamakko to the APC, he would have being smiling by now.
With a rather mean face, the posture of Governor Aliyu at the moment does not suggest jokes. Having lost his senatorial seat, the unthinkable happened: His candidate, Mohammed Nasko, of the PDP lost the governorship election to APC’s candidate, turning the tables 360 degrees against the highly loquacious governor.
While the Buhari tsunami played a big role in his defeat, his under-estimation of the electorates and certain powerful stakeholders in the state cost him a fortune. Unexpectedly, Governor Aliyu has found himself among the 2015 political big losers.
Ali Modu Sheriff
One politician who came crashing, losing 2015 in a highly embarrassing fashion, is the erstwhile, former and once strong man of Borno politics, Ali Modu Sheriff.
Sheriff, undoubtedly must be wondering what hit him in 2015. Since 1999, Sheriff’s political influence transcended Borno State and the north as it saw him become a major player in national politics especially within the opposition party. This allowed him to, with the snap of a finger, send the late Governor Mala Kachalla packing from the government house in Maiduguri in 2003.
But all that is gone now. Sheriff who left the APC to join the PDP after the APC failed to do his biddings before the party’s convention, is licking his wounds from all sides. With his protector – Jonathan flushed out of government, his preferred candidate for Borno governorship election, Mohammed Imam, denied candidacy of the PDP by the courts prior to the election, just as he lost his bid to clinch a senatorial ticket under the PDP, it is total loss for the man whose words were law in Borno State at a time.
Kashim Shettima, who Sheriff swore to dethrone has taken charge of Borno politics, rendering the once political dynasty of Sheriff useless. Whether at the centre, party, or state level, Sheriff is nowhere to be found. It is only a matter of time before he comes begging, else his worst nigtmarish days are here.
Gabriel Suswam
Like Sheriff, Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State must be feeling dazed and traumatised. Under his nose, the goodwill enjoyed by Benue PDP got frittered away leaving behind a distasteful political odour for him.
Under Suswam, the PDP’s 16 year hold of Benue politics came crashing leaving him with nothing. Suswam lost his senatorial quest, lost the governorship for his candidate and presidency, a result which like Sheriff, has practically excised him off power for at least four years except he goes begging.
Reports say the legislator-turned governor, aside non payment of salaries for a predominant civil service state, gravely underestimated the certain dynamics in the state which in turn, led him to the political oblivion he is set to embark on.
— To be continued as Clark, Anenih, Yuguda, Agbaje, Smart Adeyemi and others take their turns next week.
Source: LEADERSHIP