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2015 Campaigns: The issues, excesses, violations

Published by The Nation on Sun, 29 Mar 2015


Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, reports on the campaign issues of President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari, including the excesses and electoral violations of their political parties; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC).Political parties and politicians participating in the ongoing general elections that kicked off across the country yesterday found and used several methods to reach out to the electorate during the many weeks of electioneering campaigns that saw political campaign trains crisscrossing the lent and breadth of the various constituencies.Aside from pasting posters and erecting billboards, vote seeking groups and individuals mounted podiums and organised programmes all in their quest to have the people consider them or their candidates worthy of being entrusted with the peoples mandate during the general election.They also found the social, print and electronic media as useful platforms to get closer to the people, especially voters. And all the parties, especially the two leading ones, made extensive use of these platforms so much so that the electorates themselves were treated with what many analysts described as political campaign war.The war came in various shades; some interesting, some gory, some peaceful, some violent, some good to hear and see, some unsavory. In and out of the expected and the unexpected, politicians and their political parties meandered as they curry the votes of Nigerians desperately.IssuesOn his part, President Goodluck Jonathan said as the President of Nigeria in the outgoing tenure, he concentrated much of his efforts at rebuilding the physical infrastructure that could galvanize national industrial development. He said much has been achieved in his quest to transform the country.Consequently, as a presidential aspirant in the 2015 elections, he focused on the development of the human capital. According to him, a nation is as developed as its human capital. Education, women, and youth development are the indicators of a nations development. Having laid the foundations for industrial take off, I want you to vote for me to make good these areas of our national life.Women: The Goodluck second tenure will embark on large scale women empowerment programme as well as increase number of women that occupy public offices. We have developed a road map to integrate women into the nations development processes. I will fully implement the Affirmative Action of at least 35 percent positions for women in appointive positions. I will do more to promote increased girl-child education in the northern parts of Nigeria. The G-WIN Initiative will be the plank to economically empower women and girls. The reduction in maternal and child mortality will be aggressively pursued through already existing programmatic platforms. Nigeria women must be fully engaged to contribute to national development. We are committed to making work and effort of women to count in National Gross Domestic Product (GDP).Youth: Youths are the heartbeat of the nation. The Goodluck second term administration will give greater attention to the task of lifting up the Nigerian youth to a higher level of attainment. We work to harness the energies and potentials of the youth for national development through specialised programmes; including support for youths in ICT; Youth in Sports; Youth in Agriculture and Youth entrepreneurship.The Elderly: The Goodluck Jonathan Administration will ensure that pensioners and the elderly are protected, supported and provided for so that they can continue to enjoy good health and longevity. Special attention will be given to the elderly in our society.All through his own campaign, Buhari affirmed that he would do things differently from the PDP presidents if elected, and outlined a nine-point agenda to achieve this, namely:*Protection of lives and property.*Pursuing economic policies for shared prosperity and immediate attention on youth employment.*Quality education for development, modernity and social mobility.*Agricultural productivity for taking millions out of poverty and ensuring food security.*Reviving industries to generate employment and make things not just to remain hawkers of other peoples goods.*Developing solid minerals exploitation, which will substantially attract employment and revenue for government.*Restoring honour and integrity to public service by keeping the best and attracting the best.*Tackling corruption which has become blatant and widespread. The rest of the world looks at Nigeria as the home of corruption. Nigeria is a country where stealing is not corruption.*Respecting the constitutional separation of powers among the executive, legislature and judiciary and respecting the rights of citizens.The candidates and their parties strived vigorously to send the messages into the hearts of the people. The people listened to it all. And more than ever before, the 2015 campaigns were indeed issues-based as the people strived to hear more from the political gladiators.Hate campaignsThe electioneering contest, at some point, also degenerated into a string of hate campaigns leading to allegations and counter allegations between the two frontline political parties and their candidates.At the peak of the highly condemned hate campaign, a serving state governor ran a series of newspaper adverts that insinuated that the APC presidential candidate may not have much years left to spend on earth.The governor, Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, however appeared unperturbed by the knocks he received for sponsoring the obscene advertorial. Rather, he insisted that he is entitled to express how he feels about Buhari and any other candidate in the presidential race.The advert placed on selected newspapers, has the pictures of past Nigerian leaders who died in office; Murtala Muhammed, Sani Abacha, Umaru YarAdua with the picture of Buhari placed beside the pictures of the late leaders and a huge question mark over it.It was accompanied by excerpt from the Bible book of Deuteronomy 30 verse 19, asked its readers: Will you allow history to repeat itself' Enough of State burials. Nigerians be warned! NigeriaI have set before thee Life and death. Therefore, choose life that both thee and thy seed may live, it said.This advertisement was widely condemned by both supporters of Buhari and President Goodluck Jonathan, with many people asking the president to dissociate himself from it.Ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, while reacting to the advertisement, said Ayo Fayose mocked the death of our great past heroes. This is too much of politics to play. I hope Nigerians now know the right camp to vote. Ayo Fayose is nothing but a celebrated hooligan. His offensive advert should provoke and strengthen Nigerians to vote for change.Earlier, the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation had alleged that the APC, in a video advert, was inciting the military to take over the affairs of government and also planned to assassinate key government officials. But the inability of the camp to substantiate its claim with evidences, robbed it of any political mileage it may have intended in raising the alarm.And the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) was to introduce another dimension into the matter when it said it has evidence that a top management staff of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is behind the dirty campaigns of hate against the presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu and their families aired in the documentaries by AIT and NTA.The APCPCOs Director of Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said the campaign office has confirmed that the agency was indeed the sponsor of all the dirty campaigns against the APC presidential candidate on AIT, NTA and several other media platforms. The party noted that the Buhari documentary, apart from being fabricated and planted, the broadcasts were a complete negation of the recent noble violence-free election accord.The petition read in part: Campaign of hate, particularly when based on twisted facts and ill intentions, is a constructive incitement to violence. Campaign of hate is not only dehumanizing, it is against the spirit of our constitution and unwholesome to national interest. The electorate have right to base their evaluation of every election candidate on true facts, not deceptive and cooked manipulations.APC also condemned the Africa Independent Television (AIT) and the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) for what it called offensive documentary against the person of the partys National Leader, Asiwaju BolaTinubu. The documentary, which was entitled: The Lion of Bourdillon, alleged that Tinubu was corrupt and treating Yorubaland as his personal estate, among other allegations.The Publicity Secretary of Ekiti APC Elders Forum, Dr. Bayo Orire, described the documentary as a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) evil propaganda against the person of Tinubu, whom he said the ruling party is afraid of.However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), denied the allegation and accused the APC of paranoia and desperation in its futile attempt to claim power.Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo, said, It is now clear that the APC has nothing else to tell Nigerians, who have made up their minds to return President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP. Ask them, how much is Nigerias budget' They should talk on issues and stop this propaganda.OnlineThe online campaign was not less competitive. Candidates and political camps went all out to engage the over six million Nigerian Facebook users and about a million users each of messaging services such as Twitter, BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp.Sites and accounts of various contestant and party sprung up on these messaging services, leading to a fierce online war between the APC and the PDP. Other political parties were not left out as the platforms proved to be veritable area where candidates and parties with less financial muscles competed with their more endowed counterparts easily.Cosmas Chikelu, a social media analyst, and Chief Executive Officer of CyberScenes, a social media service outfit, commended the improved utilisation of the global trend by Nigerian politicians ahead of the 2015 general election.The social media allows faster communication and reach citizens in a more direct manner. It is relatively cheaper and of course more effective than the conventional media. The better use Nigerian politicians put the platforms to this time around is commendable.The arguments, reactions, feedback, conversations and debates generated online over the weeks have been very useful in helping the electorate to decide which direction to go. It has also reduced the tension usually associated with electioneering campaign in Nigeria because through the social media, many questions were asked and answered, he said.First to hit the waves was President Goodluck Jonathan, who, with nearly two million Facebook followers, is the first Nigerian President to use social media to reach out to the people. Every Facebook post of the President attracted several likes and comments from both friends and foes alike.The PDP, now with about 80,000 followers on the Facebook and about 32,000 Twitter attentions, also made good use of the online platforms to disseminate information to the people and promote the candidacy of its flag-bearers. The party also engaged the use of the online services in promoting the various support groups that sprung up for its candidates across the country.Likewise, the APC and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) took the campaign for voters support to the social media. As we speak, Buhari has over 90,000 followers on Twitter in addition to the 200,000 Facebook friends he now boasts of. It is instructive to note that before his emergence as APC presidential hopeful, the retired general was not really a fan of the social media.But his entrant unto the social media scene witnessed prompt accreditation for him by many Nigerians on the services. And he has been very consistent in using the platforms to reach out to supporters and opponents alike.All in all, the APC appears to have won the online campaign war. The APC now has about 100,000 Twitter followers having tweeted about 9,000 times. On its part, the PDP has just about 2,000 tweets.ViolationsIn the course of the electioneering campaigns, the political gladiators went beyond stipulated and acceptable norms and practices in some of their actions and inactions. Chief amongst this is in the area of campaign expenditure as established by concerned bodies.A report by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ); a non-governmental organisation, revealed that both the PDP and the APC violated the electoral law on campaign funding. The report titled Second Campaign Finance and Use of State Administrative Resources Report in the 2015 Presidential Election was presented to journalists recently.Lead Director of the centre, Barrister Eze Onyekpere, who presented the report, said the essence of making it public was to show Nigerians how politicians and their political parties were dipping their hands into state coffers and using public funds for their private uses.The Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), a pro-Jonathan Campaign Organisation, was specifically mentioned in the report as violating the electoral law by contributing far above the N1million ceiling as donation from individuals or groups to any candidate.It also highlighted the issues of allegation of bribery to pastors, visits to traditional rulers where undisclosed huge sums of money were allegedly doled out, inducement of socio-cultural organisations, sale of PVCs, cost of hate campaigns, renting of crowd and use of government agencies as conduits to siphon funds among others.According to the report, all persons, associations and organisations who have sought to induce voters with money and materials should be prosecuted in accordance with S. 124 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended). This should include the candidates and their agents through which the corrupt acts were perpetrated.The report also called on security agencies to investigate the allegations and counter allegations of bribery against Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and its members. It also called for the investigation of the allegations of sale of PVCs and its demand as collateral to be deposited with a company that offers loans to the poor. It urged the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission to intervene to stop hate campaigns in the electronic media.Also, that INEC should demand that all abuse of state resources and the diversion of public goods and materials for partisan purposes should henceforth be stopped. It called for those who have participated in the act to be brought to book. It recommended that those in charge of the MDGs, NEMA and ATA, who allowed state resources to be used to the advantage of the incumbent, should be made to resign their appointments among others.As the results of this weekends presidential election begins to trickle in, observers will compare it with the campaign efforts of the candidates and their promises as Nigerians are concerned with what the new leader will bring to the table.The post 2015 Campaigns: The issues, excesses, violations appeared first on The Nation.]]>
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