IF there is anybody out there that still nurses any doubt about the ability of the Nigerian masses to determine for themselves, then the just concluded presidential election is enough for the doubting Thomas to start believing in the ability of what the Nigerian citizens are capable of doing.

Having read various comments from reputable journalists about the outcome of the Presidential election and the destructive protest that came on the heels of the President Jonathan’s victory in some parts of the North, I came to the realisation that I also should contribute my humble view on the whole scenario as well as examining the legacy that the Presidential election left behind.

Some well informed public analysts have attributed the loss of the presidential candidate of the CPC, Muhammadu Buhari to the breakdown of the alliance talk between the leadership of the CPC and the ACN. For those who believe in this school of thought, CPC-ACN alliance would have given PDP a good run for their money. Of course, the ACN had come forward to present their side of the story. According to them, all their advances were rebuffed by the CPC.

One is still waiting for CPC to come open on the subject, either to debunk or to corroborate  ACN’s position. Whatever it is, some analysts are convinced that history has offered an astonished opportunity for the oppositions to rewrite the history of Nigeria. Unfortunately, they misread the vital signal of history.

Beyond this sentiment, however, those analysts failed to consider the fact that the political parties as they are operated in Nigeria are not based on the national interests but rather on individual’s interest.

Therefore, whenever  the interests of various individuals who run these parties are at stake, they  stop at nothing to protect it.

And in a country like Nigeria where corruption remains the hallmark of politicians, it will not be easy for party leaders to form an alliance, particularly with a man like Buhari who is generally seen as an incorruptible politician and who is likely to move against many perceived corrupt politicians. And, apart from the PDP that has already been established as the nest of corrupt elements, another party that is next to them in rank in this regards is the ACN.

That is, if one considers the number of former PDP members who have since pitched their tents with the party. Come to think of it, why is it that it was only a week to the presidential election that the ACN leadership intensified the alliance talk when it had already became obvious that the party had opened a line of communication with the then candidate Jonathan of the PDP?

I also feel that the ACN went too far by asking that Bakare should step down after their swearing-in so as to pave the way for an ACN member to emerge as Buhari’s VP! I am very sure that even the ACN’s leadership knew  that such an  arrangement could never work as it has never happened even in the most advance democracy how much more ours that is still at its infancy.

ACN’s outrageous demand makes one feel  the party went to the negotiating table with the motive of deliberately foiling the alliance talk even before it began. This does not mean that General Buhari was a saint in the breakdown of this alliance.

He contributed immensely to it. History presents the General a unique opportunity to tie down a deal with the ACN as far back as November last year. But for his alleged ‘ego’, the alliance talk collapsed prematurely. The lesson we can all learn from this is that as long as individual interests continued to overshadow national interests in our politics, the much expected virile and formidable alliance between all the opposition parties will continued to be a mirage.

Another legacy left behind by the presidential election was the manner in which the Northern youths reacted albeit violently to the loss of General Buhari. It should be stated that destructive protests, particularly the one that involves  attempt on the lives of the people of other ethnic origin is inimical to the collective survival of Nigeria as a nation and should be roundly condemned.

The beauty of democracy is that the votes of the majority always carried the day and if your preferred candidate loses in an election you must take solace in the fact that there will always be another time which offers the party other opportunity to reach out to Nigerians on how their economic programmes will be beneficial to all.

But looking at it from another perspective, the riots that took place across the North showed that even the Northern youths are tired of the Hausa ruling elite and by extension the Nigeria ruling elite.

Some have said that the Northern youths are only agitating for one of their own to be at the helm of the country’s affair but to these people I have posed a question:Why was it that nobody came out to protest in the North after the loss of Atiku Abubakar, who was then referred to as a ‘Northern Consensus Candidate’, in the PDP presidential primary?

The simple truth is that Atiku did not represent the kind of leadership they  yearned for. But in Buhari they have an illusion in a man that is capable of handling over to them the much expected dividends of democracy. A man who is believed to have never touched the public fund and who would not allow the corrupt ruling elite to continue in their unchecked habits of compromising the development of the North as well as that of Nigeria.

They came out devotedly to vote massively for their hero: but unfortunately, the votes of the majority carried the day. The 2011 Presidential election shattered the old order of the much touted ‘monolithic North’ where the position of the Northern ruling elite was not meant to be questioned.

Today, almost everywhere across the streets of the North, people are talking about the unnecessary overbearing influence of Emirs on the Northern political landscape. I also disagreed with those who tried to analyse the outcome of the election from the North and the Southern divide perspective. Afterall, Obasanjo contested elections in this country and the Yoruba refused to vote for him.
For General Buhari, that he has fought a good fight is not in doubt.

He has managed to remain untainted in the comity of the leaders we have had in this country. His presidential campaign showed that he was not gunning for presidency to enrich himself.

BY STEPHEN ADEWALE, a student  of History, wrote from Obafemi Awolowo University , Ife,  Osun State.