Election 2015: The Losers

The dust and the acrimony from the 2015 elections have sufficiently settled. Me myself I have somewhat recovered. All those one-sided media outfits during the saga will hopefully now report and publish all relevant sides of the divide. And as oga Jonathan watched his second term bid go up in smoke at the polls, there were plenty of obvious winners and losers. But, there were some less obvious losers too.

And so, in a haphazard order, here are some of the immediate and potential losers. Drum roll please…

1. The Yorubas: At first, I thought the Yorubas have got Buhari by the short and the curlies; but now, I’m not so sure. Today, the Yorubas appear jittery in victory, wondering what next. Only now, they seem to be properly cogitating which way to go. In so many eyes, they are being seen again as too scheming, too wily, unsteady and undependable. Truth is, though the Yorubas have good reason to dislike Jonathan, they have however isolated themselves good and proper in the south with their modus operandi. They threw the baby and the nanny out with the bath water. I mean, in southern Nigeria, the big idea was to build on restructuring the country, or wasn’t it?

2. Patience Jonathan: This lady campaigned harder than Jonathan and Buhari put together. The outcome of the presidential election must have been really devastating for her. It must have hurt bad. Since March 28, no one has heard ‘pim’ from Mrs Jonathan. Looking back now, it was altogether a bad idea to have quit that Perm Sec job down in Bayelsa. But hindsight is a mean so and so. And to make matters worse, her friends are already inviting Mrs Buhari to dinner. Women sef! Chai!

3. Corruption: Under Jonathan, corruption became as welcome as Brazilian hair weave. In six whole years, I cannot think of a single soul that was prosecuted directly for corruption under Jonathan. The few cases we heard about were hold-overs from the Obasanjo and the Yar’Adua eras.

4. PDP Northern Governors: Quite a few of these gentlemen collected Jonathan’s money and worked for the opposition. They had hoped that they would continue to remain relevant after the presidential debacle. It hasn’t turned out that way. They lost their States and their standing in the gubernatorial election. Then the APC promptly informed them not to even think of coming across looking for any goodies.

5. The South-West Press corridor: These people energetically sold us the Buhari IV project in a haze of self-induced amnesia and a perfect re-enactment of the Stockholm Syndrome. But the ink hasn’t even dried yet and the Buhari team is already in a Decree 4 mode.

6. Shehu Garba: Got found out. Unfortunately for him, this happened before May 29^th. The chap only went and took a blow-touch to his own reputation and credibility.

7. Egalitarianism: Turns out regionalism is still very much alive in Nigeria. When the chips are down, everyone goes home.

8. Young folks: IBB was right after all when he declared in 2011 that the younger generation in Nigeria was not serious enough and not ready to lead.

9. Femi Fani-Kayode: Lost promises again. Was too strident and unsavoury. The attack dog thing is played out as Okupe and Omokri found out a while ago.

10. Edwin Clark: Threats are just that; threats. Empty mouthing isn’t it. You’ve got to back up your garrulousness adequately. Boko Haram straight forward taught us that.

11. The PDP: The biggest Party in Africa watched its reputation lowered like a cheap coffin. They finally got out-played, out-rigged and out-manoeuvred in their own game.

12. Obasanjo: The ex-President was neither here nor there; not in, not out. All the man succeeded in doing was damage his own Party and annoy everyone on every side in the process. And clearly, Buhari is not an OBJ fan.

13. Rotimi Amaechi: In quick order, this chap lost his deposit, his money, his dignity, and damn near his entire people. The APC better compensate him the world.

14. The Nigerian Army: For letting a noble body get used and abused by bloody civilians.

15. The Christian Association of Nigeria: This organisation and some of their prosperity-flogging pastors – including one thoroughly perfidious all signing all dancing Catholic Priest in Enugu – covered themselves in a moth eaten shroud and all ended up in the can.

16. And finally; Ms Marilyn Ogar: Truly, I wonder what this lady will do now. The DSS spokeswoman spent enormous time and energy castigating the APC and made life quite difficult for a few of its frontline members. She practically called them terrorists. Now, the same people she spent so much vigour haranguing and abusing are going to be her boss. Very interesting, no? That alone is worth the price of the electoral outcome.

Next time, the winners?

————-

IMAGE: ITU Pictures