Up to the time Professor Attahiru Jega,
Chairman of the Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC, was
announcing the results of the March 28
presidential election on Wednesday, fear
of uncertainty engulfed the All
Progressives Congress, APC, and its
presidential candidate, General
Muhammadu Buhari.
However, it was not a fear occasioned by
any conceivable loss of the election
because with the result already trickling
in the previous day, the camp knew the
APC was coasting home to victory. But it
was the uncertainty that President
Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the
election, would reject the results and
invoke a military intervention to stop
Buhari from ascending to the presidency.
The otherwise, after all, smacked a big
surprise to APC, Buhari and his
campaign organization.
And for conceding defeat and
subsequently calling to congratulate the
president-elect even before the last
result was officially announced,
Jonathan did not only carve a niche for
himself but also launched into the
community of patriots and statesmen.
These were thoughts expressed by the
Director, Media and Publicity Directorate
of the All Progressives Congress
Presidential Campaign Organization,
APCPCO, Mallam Garba Shehu, in Abuja.
Speaking with Sunday Vanguard, Shehu,
who was central to the election of Buhari
by way of information dissemination and
management, said that the campaign
was the fiercest he had ever witnessed
since he debuted into partisan politics.
He said: “I can say that the President
acted with grace. He surprised us
because we never expected that they
would accept defeat. In fact, the sense
everyone had was that they probably had
plan A, B, C or D. And in any case, with
the kind of thing that Mr. Orubebe did at
the collation center, you knew that even
when the President had grace, given the
chance with the community of people
around him, they could have threatened
this democracy.
“Look, I have been involved in
presidential campaigns about three or
four times in the past, the difference is
that this is the most fearful campaign
that I have ever experienced. This is the
most life threatening campaign because
we were dealing with opponents we
thought would stop at nothing because
they were throwing everything into it.
“So, we were not taking anything for
granted. It affected our lives. Would you
see me in a night club? You couldn’t
risk it because you didn’t even know who
was trailing you. And it came as a huge
relief.
“Again, we were getting security reports
from our own sources. Until the
President said ‘I concede’ and
congratulated Buhari, we felt every
minute that something wrong would
happen. There was a clear and
discernible threat to democracy as a
system of government.
“Look, everyone felt concerned because,
what if, God forbid, he declared a coup?
These scenarios had been laid before
Nigerians. Mr. Okupe, the Special Adviser
to the President, was he not on Youtube,
recorded on video, saying that Buhari
will never become President? What do
you take that for? It means that Buhari
would win and they will take it away
from him.
“This careless talk, arrogant display of
power, it had come from the Villa. Many
sources with linkages to power: Asari-
Dokubo, Chief E.K. Clark and all of them,
were they not sounding words to the
President? They had said it that they
would take away their part of the country
from Nigeria if Buhari won.
“But for the President to have come and
say ‘I accept accept defeat as the leader
of the country’; that had an effect of
really calming things down. And that’s
why, whether they like it or not,
President Jonathan has written his name
in gold in so far as this is concerned.”
Shehu assured that the president-elect
would not avenge the attacks on his
person by the allies of Jonathan, saying
there was enough work to do to meet the
aspirations of Nigerians than pursuing
mundane things.
See full interview excerpts on:
www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/buhari-we-
feared-jonathan-would-not-accept-defeat/
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