The similarities between US and Nigeria’s presidential elections

That the 2015 general elections have come and gone is no longer news and a fait accompli. That the grandeur of the ruling PDP has been cut to size after a 16 years peregrination is also no longer news. That the formation of the APC as the strongest opposition party in the history of Nigeria’s democracy becomes the Gordian knot that finally sinks the titanic PDP is also no longer news. What is rather news and I would like to elucidate is the emerging similarities between the United States of America and the Nigeria’s Presidential elections

In the United States of America, the federalist party as the democrats where known then ruled for a period of 12 years from 1789 to 180. Under the leadership of President George Washington 1789 to 1797 and President John Adams 1797 to 1801. Same can be compared to the Peoples Democratic Party that has ruled for the first 16 years of Nigeria’s democracy from 1999 to 2015, under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo 1999 to 2007, President Umaru Musa Yaradua 2007 to 2010 and President Goodluck Jonathan 2010 to 2015

Just like in the 1972 US election where President Washington won re-election because the electorate led by James Madison convinced the President and the Polity that he is the only one that can keep the country together. Vice President Atiku Abubakar convinced the rampaging PDP governors led by the likes of Orji Uzor Kalu and Donald Duke of Abia and Cross States respectively that President Obasanjo is the only one that has the requisite experience as at the time to keep the country together. He refused to run against his principal even when it was obvious that he has the overwhelming support of the PDP governors who believed that “ baba “ style of governance was dictatorial and tyrannical

In 1792, the 2nd US election threw up Thomas Jefferson who was the secretary of State under President Washington. In 2003, Muhammadu Buhari came onboard as the leading contender on the platform of the ANPP. Buhari was a former head of state from August 27th, 1983 to December 31st, 1985. This 2nd elections in the two nascent democracy threw up 2 leading contenders who have held a high public office before contesting Presidential election.

Vice President John Adams, who later became President in 1796 was involved in the American electioneering and governance from the inception of the democratic rule in 1789. President Goodluck Jonathan has been accentuating himself in the consciousness of the Nigerian electorate since the inception of democratic rule in Nigeria since 1999, when he was elected deputy governor of Bayelsa State, became governor in 2005 when his principal was impeached from office, became elected Vice President in 2007, became Acting President and President in 2010, became elected President in 2011.

Very interesting to note is that in the US election of 1796 and 1800, President John Adams and Thomas Jefferson contested against each other as the two leading contenders. In the Nigeria elections of 2011 and 2015, the two leading contenders to the coveted office of the President were President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen Muhammadu Buhari.

The 1800 US election was the first time an incumbent American President would lose re-election and that was the first transfer of power from the two major leading political parties, the Federalist handing over power to the Democratic-Republican. In the 2015 presidential election, Nigeria witnessed the first defeat of an incumbent president and a transition of power from the ruling PDP to the rampaging APC

It will be imperative to note that the peaceful transfer of power in the US election of 1800 occured despite defects in the American constitution that caused a breakdown of the electoral system. The system provided no seperate votes for the president and his vice, Republicans managers failed to deflect votes for their vice presidential candidate, Aaron Burr. President Jefferson and Vice President Burr were tied on 73 votes each, while the federalist candidates, incumbent President Adams received 65 votes and his vice, Charles Pinckney got 64 votes

The result threw the election into the house of representatives, where each state had one vote to be decided by majority of its delegation. The emerging scenario was that Americans had to wait for 6 days before the votes could be conclusive and a winner declared, in which the federalists in the tied delegations of Vermont and Maryland abstained from voting and the majority votes was in favour of elected President Jefferson

The introduction of the permanent voters card ( PVC ) and card readers in the 2015 general election caused some avoidable hiccups that even the sitting President Jonathan was unable to be accredited at his polling unit in Otuoke, Bayelsa State.

Ordinarily, this would have been a loophole for him to have exploited and call for the cancellation of the results especially when the case of underaged voting in the northern stronghold of the opposition went viral on both news and online social media platforms and this could have been used to discredit the entire voting process. Yet, President Jonathan fossilized his campaign for free, credible and transparent election that does not worth the blood of any Nigerian been shed for his ambition by doing what has been described as a rare show of sportsmanship alien to politicians in our clime.