During the 2015 presidential campaign two main contenders of the election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), have been using all the means to show who would better save Nigeria from a crisis.
It should be noted that the poll, which was postponed by the national electoral commission by six weeks for security reasons, concluded with the victory of the APC’s Muhammadu Buhari.
In an election plagued by technical mishaps, Buhari has sealed the victory over the incumbent leader of the nation, Goodluck Jonathan, by little more than 2 million votes, making it the tightest presidential race the country has seen since the end of the military rule in 1999.
It was the fourth election for the former military ruler turned democrat and it was really a tough one.
Naij.com gathered six ‘tricks’ Buhari’s opponents used to mar his name during the electoral campaign.
Nigeria’s ruling party, the PDP, accused General Buhari of not having the appropriate education for running in the presidential poll.
The president-elect was made to address journalists on January 21, 2015, as the army denied being in possession of Buhari’s academic credentials.
Later, the Government College, formerly Provincial Secondary School, Katsina, released the secondary school certificate examination results of the APC presidential aspirant.
However, several days after election, the army suddenly found the missing certificate.
2. AIT documentary
The Africa Independent Television (AIT) has aired a documentary about Buhari’s life and past military regime. The documentary was titled “The Real Buhari” and presented the president-elect in a bad light.
There were reports that President Jonathan and his party bribed AIT N10 billion to air the controversial documentary not only on the APC hopeful, but also on other leaders of the opposition party, namely Bola Tinubu.
3. The rumours about Buhari’s illness
After the shift of the general elections, Buhari left Nigeria for a campaign break. By that time he had visited over 16 states with presidential rallies.
The extended absence of the APC presidential candidate and his UK tour caused a lot of negative rumors due to his health conditions, first of all among the PDP bigwigs.
Ayodele Fayose, Ekiti state governor, claimed that the photo from the Buhari’s interview in London was actually taken in Abuja and accused the opposition of deceiving Nigerians.
However, Buhari debunked all the allegations after one television interview by challenging his detractors to a road race.
4. Suits of eligibility
With less than two weeks to the presidential poll the two groups were seeking to stop Buhari from contesting the election.
The litigants wanted the court to bar the APC presidential candidate on the grounds that “General Buhari had breached relevant provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act 2010.”
5. Accusation of being a Muslim fundamentalist
As Muhammadu Buhari is a Muslim from the North of the country, he is believed to be advocating for implementation of Sharia law in all the states.
Major shareholders in the country have been giving their opinion on the matter.
Always ready to talk about Buhari’s religious background was a former colleague, now PDP’s affiliate, an ex Nigerian minister Femi Fani Kayode.
6. Hate campaign by the First Lady
Just over a short period, marked by general polls shift by six weeks, Dame Patience Jonathan has dropped several comments that have been tagged as seriously controversial.
The claims were mainly against Buhari.
The First Lady mocked the “change” slogan, dominating the APC campaign, also she said that the former military ruler had a ‘dead brain’.
