The groundswell of opposition against the ruling
People’s Democratic Party in the north seemed to have petered out.
Although voting for the gubernatorial election did not take place in
Kaduna, Bauchi, Sokoto, Adamawa and Kogi states, in most of the north
where it did take place, the apathy was pervasive.
Of course, a major reason for this is fear–as many
people, including two former leaders of this country, Ibrahim Babangida
and Abdulsalami Abubakar, have noted.
“I believe people are very apprehensive and don’t want to be caught up in any violence,” said Mr Abubakar.
But less emphasised, though even more virulent, is a
feeling of hopelessness that has permeated the region after the
presidential poll. Despite all the indices showing that the elections
were for the most part fair, the feeling persists that people’s votes
did not count, that the CPC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari was cheated and
their dream is over.
The fight appeared to have gone out of the presumed
game changers, youth who were tired of the corrupt regime that the
People’s Democratic Party and its retinue of beneficiaries–including
previously revered traditional rulers–represented in the region.
Millions of hopes crumbled in the detritus of the
retired General’s valiant but ultimately futile challenge of the status
quo. They had invested so much of their dreams in him, and his loss,
without even the benefit of a run-off, destroyed their expectations.
Umar Bawa, a businessman and activist, explained,
“People feel disenfranchised. There is the belief that the PDP has a
willing partner in INEC and that nothing we do can change anything. The
PDP always wins.”
After an initial orgy of violence, revolting in the
killing of innocent people by miscreants, there is a sense among large
groups of northerners that Mr Buhari’s loss proves that nothing has
changed. A combination of fear and ambivalence towards the process
finally tooks its toll in Saturday’s elections.
In Kano, as in other major cities, these factors were
largely responsible for most people failing to turn up and vote. The
queues were so short that by 9am, accreditation had already ended in
some places. In a polling unit in Zenegi, Gbatako ward, Niger State,
voters reportedly finished casting their votes by 11am.
‘Let them rule forever’
In Suleja, where two separate bomb blasts in one
month couldn’t cow the voters, where young men and hijab-clad women
trooped out during the presidential polls despite a morbid fear that
every black polythene bag hid an explosive, the governorship election
was underwhelming. Most people just stayed home, and others who saw
their neighbours on the queues, taunted them for wasting their time.
Ibrahim Shuaibu, who said he voted for Mr Buhari in
the presidential poll, said he had no intention of voting in the
governorship election. “Let them continue to rule forever,” he said. “I
don’t care anymore. One day Allah will give us the change we need.”
Aminu Yusuf, who is the ruling party’s secretary in the state, told newsmen that he found the turnout quite embarrassing.
“Last time the whole queues were filled up, but now
despite our best efforts to mobilise people, they just are not willing
to show up,” he said on the eve of the election.
Adamu Saidu Bwari said many of his friends have lost faith in the process.
“I know some of them who burnt their cards. Some others tore their
voter’s card to shreds, and swore never to vote again,” he said./
