By Ayo Akinfe
Tinubu won this election by default as he was a beneficiary of Atiku’s selfish personal ambition and Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s failure to get the PDP to zone its presidential ticket to the southeast
[1] It is all over now ladies and gentlemen. Bola Tinubu has won with about 2m votes, securing 25% of the vote in 31 states. Contrary to a lot of commentaries, technology helped a lot in these elections. It actually detected voter fraud where it happened and exposed it
[2] However, the star of the show was former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, whose Labour Party came from nowhere to win in 11 states, including Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory
[3] If you ask me, had Peter Obi clinched the PDP presidential ticket and run as their candidate, I believe he would have coasted to victory. He now heads a genuine national movement that will remain popular for the foreseeable future
[4] Most Nigerians believe in fair play and hold on to the principle of a rotational presidency. It is only fair that the presidency rotates between the north and the south, so Atiku Abubakar wanting to assume office after eight years of Muhammadu Buhari is simply a crime against humanity
[5] Given that we have had Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, it is only fair that this time around the position should have gone to the southeast. In Peter Obi, the southeast geo-political zone had the right man in the right place at the right time
[6] When I look at the amount of energy Ohanaeze Ndigbo put into the Obedient movement, I ask why they did not apply all this pressure on the PDP. They should have used all their clout to get the party to zone its presidential ticket to the south
[7] As far back as 2019, Ohanaeze Ndigbo should have mounted a nationwide charm offensive seeking to get the 2023 presidency zoned to the southeast. Ohanaeze’s leadership should have been wooing the leaders of all the other five zones using every weapon in its arsenal
[8] For me, if Atiku had supported Peter Obi as the PDP presidential candidate with maybe Rabiu Kwankwaso as his running mate, they probably would have secured a landslide victory, beating Tinubu in all six geo-political zones
[9] Bola Tinubu alienated the Middle Belt by picking a fellow Muslim as his running mate. You need to see the way Peter Obi swept the vote in Plateau and Nasarawa states to see how unpopular the same faith ticket was among northern Christians. Other northern states with large Christian communities like Taraba, Kaduna and Adamawa voted for Atiku
[10] Had this election been a two-horse race between Peter Obi of the PDP and Bola Tinubu of the APC, it would have been no contest. The good news for the PDP and Ohanaeze is that they can target 2027, fielding Peter Obi as a consensus candidate!
