Editorial Suite
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MARCH 28, the D-day for presidential election is here. All the rancorous preparations, vacuous politicking, mudslinging, lies, half-truth and grandstanding in the media, at campaign rallies have all come to an end midnight Thursday, March 27. But the pains inflicted on the psyche of the nation and on political candidates, on Nigerians in this most divisive political season will take time to heal albeit forgotten as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, superintend the presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday.
The INEC is not playing an enviable role. Politicians of different ilk and their supporters are deeply suspicious of its truth intention as a result of all the shoddiness it has so displayed with the distribution of the permanent voter’s card and the late testing of the card readers. There were also allegations and counter allegations from political camps that the INEC was not truly unbiased and was pandering to the whims of a political party. This is why the outcome of the election, which none of the politicians involved in the race believe will lose, will surprise many people. But whether they like it or not, only one person out of the two main contestants of all the 14 candidates in the presidential election will win. And the others will lose. The hope is that whoever wins should be magnanimous in victory and those who will lose should also be gracious in accepting defeat.
Indeed, it is very difficult to determine who will win or lose in this election where the stakes are so high; where the very soul of Nigeria is considered endangered because of the violence that is anticipated to follow. (Thankfully, all hands are already on deck to deflect such violence from occurring.) But the difficulty in accurately predicting the winner is essentially because all things are not equal in politics; in the permutation by political parties, especially that of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC. Both parties are populated by hardened politicians who have been on the political war front many times and understand the rigging machinery which often propel them to victory.
So, in this dicey presidential election, one should not expect so much that the votes of the electorate alone will determine the winner. The party that has the upper hand in dynamics of rigging will carry the day so long as it is done in such a way that the public will be fooled and not so much in a brazen fashion. This is why it is very difficult for Realnews editorial board to actually read the political crystal ball and clearly predict what the outcome of the presidential election will be. But we have done an extensive analysis in this edition of our cover story entitled: Presidential Race: Who Wins?, to prepare your mind for whatever the likely outcome will be. And when the INEC announces: “the Winner is ….”, Just hold your breath and do not be unnecessarily perturbed as we have prepared you effectively with our story which was anchored by Olu Ojewale, our in-house professor of politics. Enjoy it.
Maureen Chigbo
mechigbo@yahoo.com | mechigbo@realnewsmagazine.net
+234 8033487603, 8052528603
— Apr. 6, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT
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