The 2015 General Elections have come and gone, and expectedly, it has produced winners and losers. The All Progressives’ Congress (APC) created an upset and won the presidential elections and four-time presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari finally emerged victorious at the polls. Since the elections, political pundits and analysts have been analyzing the results of the elections and what caused voters to sway either this way or that way.
One state that is of interest is Bauchi State and the way in which APC won the state with 931,598 of the votes, leaving the PDP a paltry 8.5% of the votes to pick up. What is not surprising is not that the APC won; after all, the last time the PDP won the state in the presidential polls was in 1999. However, political watchers had predicted that President Goodluck Jonathan will be able to get at least 30% of the votes not only because the state has a PDP government, but also because it is also the state of the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Ahmadu Mu’azu and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed who are political heavyweights and are very popular in the state.
So what went wrong for the PDP and President Jonathan?
First, the very dismal performance of Governor Isa Yuguda in his eight-year stint at the helm of the state turned the hearts of many in the state against the PDP. In his two terms, the only capital project of note executed by the governor has been the Bauchi International Airport, a N9bn project which sadly is a misplaced priority considering how few people will even be afford flights regularly. It is also not justifiable to spend such a sum on an airport that will only be used optimally for one month a year during Hajj pilgrimage when the Gombe International Airport and the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano are within 5-hour radius and are available for airlifting of pilgrims to the Holy Land.
Yuguda’s tenure as governor has not left the people of Bauchi State any better than when he came in. He had initially used his penchant for cash gifts and handouts as a ruse to cover his non-performance but gradually, the people became aware of the reality of his non-performance. Considering his efforts to cozy up to President Jonathan, the people of Bauchi State punished PDP by voting en masse for APC, which also cost Yuguda his Bauchi South senatorial ambition.
Not only that, Yuguda further incensed people by foisting an unknown and unpopular governorship candidate, Hon. Mohammed Auwal Jatau on the PDP. The people of the state were expecting that either Dr. Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, a respected bureaucrat who has been Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and Secretary of the Government of the Federation, or Dr. Mohammed Ali Pate, former Minister of State for Health and respected public health expert to become the candidate of the state. However, they were edged out in the primaries as Yuguda imposed Jatau, a little-known House of Representatives member from Zaki Federal Constituency and a last-minute entrant into the race on the party and against the wishes of the party. This even caused Dr. Pate to defect to the APC where he worked tirelessly to earn their victory.
This was a stark contrast to the primaries of the APC where the governor-elect, Barrister Mohammed Abubakar emerged through a free and fair primary, which wooed voters to their side. Interestingly, Abubakar is also said to have been sponsored by Yuguda. If this is true, it means that the governor was clearly engaged in anti-party activities.
Another factor that should have contributed to the votes of President Jonathan was the voting pattern of Dass, Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa local government areas which are predominantly Christian and dominated by the Sayawa ethnic group. However, in September 2012, Governor Yuguda unilaterally moved the headquarters of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area from Tafawa-Balewa, a predominatly Christian town to Bununu, which is predominantly Muslim. This action caused the member representing Tafawa Balewa in the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Mrs. Rifkatu Danna Samson to raise the motion on the floor of the House. However, all she earned for her troubles was Yuguda using his loyalists in the House to suspend her, which earned the House a lawsuit.
Also, the member representing Dass/Bogoro/Tafawa-Balewa Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara threatened to defect from the PDP to the APC if the decision to reverse the change of local government headquarters was not made. Yuguda refused to budge, and Dogara made well his threat and defected.
This also caused a mass switch in loyalty in the area to the APC as Dogara and Samson, both very popular worked tirelessly to ensure that the APC in that area. Dogara won his re-election and is now well-placed to be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives following the decision of the APC to zone the office to the North-East.
It is quite ironic that for a governor who has been working tirelessly to be in the good books of President Jonathan and was even lobbying to have Vice-President Namadi Sambo replaced with him on the presidential ticket, all his actions worked counter to the objectives of the PDP and President Jonathan.
However, Yuguda did not see that his actions were destructive because he had arrogated to himself absolute powers not only within the state but also within the PDP in Bauchi State.
As the PDP continues with its post-election analysis of what went wrong, it needs not search too far to see the person that single-handedly caused their downfall in Bauchi State.

na waoooh... with all the plan A -Z all fail...

Incase

Stop blaming people for their inability to sell an expired product. Jonathan is a failed leader that Nigerians cannot touch with a 3 million mile votes.

This na wash!
GMB had always won Bauchi and some other NW/NE states even when he ran on CPC with no party structure.

With a very robust APC in the state coupled with the Change message, PDP was wrong to have thought they would get 30% there and some other core northern states.

PassingShot:
This na wash!
GMB had always won Bauchi and some other NW/NE states even when he ran on CPC with no party structure

even if na wash but what went wrong? PDP Chairman, Governor Isa and FCT Minister all from Bauchi

its funny how yuguda's flaws cost GEJ the elections in bauchi state

BETRAYAL... PDP should have seen this coming but they didnt right from when the Governor accused the FCT minister of stoning the president in bauchi and its also good to know that he has not only failed the PDP, the people of bauchi state and Him self

This study covered the fourth Republic particularly the 2011-General election. The study lay emphasis on the causes and consequences of political hooliganism in Bauchi State. It hinges on those areas that poses threats and resulted in violence in the 2011-General Elections in Bauchi state.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The significance of this study is numerous which includes the need to have a free and peaceful election without recourse to violence, which will indeed contribute to the Democratic processes in Bauchi State and National Development. The study will identify the challenges confronting the electoral processes in Bauchi State to proffer solution on how to consolidate democracy in Nigeria. The researcher will suggest ways on how to educate the political office holders on how to desist from action that will portends danger and serve as landmines that can explode in the democratic processes. The research will add to the already existing knowledge on election and electoral processes in Nigeria.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Any research work which claims finality in its entity is not only un-academic but also non-scientific. A Literature review is a description of the literature relevant to a particular field or topic. It gives an overview of what has been said, who the key writers are, what are the prevailing theories and hypothesis, what question are been asked and what and methodologies are appropriate and useful. A literature review describes political information in a particular subject Area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time periods. According to Bourner T. (1996),



http://www.bravoprojecthelp.com/sociology/causes-and-consequences-of-political-hooliganism-in-2011-general-elections-in-bauchi-state/

Causes and Consequences of Political Hooliganism in 2011 General Elections
http://www.bravoprojecthelp.com/sociology/causes-and-consequences-of-political-hooliganism-in-2011-general-elections-in-bauchi-state/