By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Last week, Victor, a carpenter, came to my Lagos home to fix a broken chair. I asked him whom he preferred as Nigeria’s next president: the incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan, or his challenger, Muhammadu Buhari.

“I don’t have a voter’s card, but if I did, I would vote for somebody I don’t like,” he said. “I don’t like Buhari. But Jonathan is not performing.”

Victor sounded like many people I know: utterly unenthusiastic about the two major candidates in our upcoming election.

Were Nigerians to vote on likeability alone, Jonathan would win. He is mild-mannered and genially unsophisticated, with a conventional sense of humor. Buhari has a severe, ascetic air about him, a rigid uprightness; it is easy to imagine him in 1984, leading a military government whose soldiers routinely beat up civil servants. Neither candidate is articulate. Jonathan is given to rambling; his unscripted speeches leave listeners vaguely confused. Buhari is thick-tongued, his words difficult to decipher. In public appearances, he seems uncomfortable not only with the melodrama of campaigning but also with the very idea of it. To be a democratic candidate is to implore and persuade, and his demeanor suggests a man who is not at ease with amiable consensus. Still, he is no stranger to campaigns. This is his third run as a presidential candidate; the last time, in 2011, he lost to Jonathan.

This time, Buhari’s prospects are better. Jonathan is widely perceived as ineffectual, and the clearest example, which has eclipsed his entire presidency, is his response to Boko Haram. Such a barbaric Islamist insurgency would challenge any government. But while Boko Haram bombed and butchered, Jonathan seemed frozen in a confused, tone-deaf inaction. Conflicting stories emerged of an ill-equipped army, of a corrupt military leadership, of northern elites sponsoring Boko Haram, and even of the government itself sponsoring Boko Haram.

Jonathan floated to power, unprepared, on a serendipitous cloud. He was a deputy governor of Bayelsa state who became governor when his corrupt boss was forced to quit. Chosen as vice president because powerbrokers considered him the most harmless option from southern Nigeria, he became president when his northern boss died in office. Nigerians gave him their goodwill—he seemed refreshingly unassuming—but there were powerful forces who wanted him out, largely because he was a southerner, and it was supposed to be the north’s ‘turn’ to occupy the presidential office.

And so the provincial outsider suddenly thrust onto the throne, blinking in the chaotic glare of competing interests, surrounded by a small band of sycophants, startled by the hostility of his traducers, became paranoid. He was slow to act, distrustful and diffident. His mildness came across as cluelessness. His response to criticism calcified to a single theme: His enemies were out to get him. When the Chibok girls were kidnapped, he and his team seemed at first to believe that it was a fraud organized by his enemies to embarrass him. His politics of defensiveness made it difficult to sell his genuine successes, such as his focus on the long-neglected agricultural sector and infrastructure projects. His spokespeople alleged endless conspiracy theories, compared him to Jesus Christ, and generally kept him entombed in his own sense of victimhood.

The delusions of Buhari’s spokespeople are better packaged, and obviously free of incumbency’s crippling weight. They blame Jonathan for everything that is wrong with Nigeria, even the most multifarious, ancient knots. They dismiss references to Buhari’s past military leadership, and couch their willful refusal in the language of ‘change,’ as though Buhari, by representing change from Jonathan, has also taken on an ahistorical saintliness.

I remember the Buhari years as a blur of bleakness. I remember my mother bringing home sad rations of tinned milk, otherwise known as “essential commodities”—the consequences of Buhari’s economic policy. I remember air thick with fear, civil servants made to do frog jumps for being late to work, journalists imprisoned, Nigerians flogged for not standing in line, a political vision that cast citizens as recalcitrant beasts to be whipped into shape.

Buhari’s greatest source of appeal is that he is widely perceived as non-corrupt. Nigerians have been told how little money he has, how spare his lifestyle is. But to sell the idea of an incorruptible candidate who will fight corruption is to rely on the disingenuous trope that Buhari is not his party. Like Jonathan’s People’s Democratic Party, Buhari’s All Progressives Congress is stained with corruption, and its patrons have a checkered history of exploitative participation in governance. Buhari’s team is counting on the strength of his perceived personal integrity: his image as a good guy forced by realpolitik to hold hands with the bad guys, who will be shaken off after his victory.

In my ancestral home state of Anambra, where Jonathan is generally liked, the stronger force at play is a distrust of Buhari, partly borne of memories of his military rule, and partly borne of his reputation, among some Christians, as a Muslim fundamentalist. When I asked a relative whom she would vote for, she said, “Jonathan of course. Am I crazy to vote for Buhari so that Nigeria will become a sharia country?”

Nigeria has predictable voting patterns, as all democratic countries do. Buhari can expect support from large swaths of the core north, and Jonathan from southern states. Region and religion are potent forces here. Vice presidents are carefully picked with these factors in mind: Buhari’s is a southwestern Christian and Jonathan’s is a northern Muslim. But it is not so simple. There are non-northerners who would ordinarily balk at voting for a ‘northerner’ but who support Buhari because he can presumably fight corruption. There are northern supporters of Jonathan who are not part of the region’s Christian minorities.

Last week, I was indifferent about the elections, tired of television commercials and contrived controversies. There were rumors that the election, which was scheduled for February 14, would be postponed, but there always are; our political space is a lair of conspiracies. I was uninterested in the apocalyptic predictions. Nigeria was not imploding. We had crossed this crossroads before, we were merely electing a president in an election bereft of inspiration. And the existence of a real opposition party that might very well win was a sign of progress in our young democracy.

Then, on Saturday, the elections were delayed for six weeks. Nigeria’s security agencies, we were told, would not be available to secure the elections because they would be fighting Boko Haram and needed at least another month and a half to do so. (Nigeria has been fighting Boko Haram for five years, and military leaders recently claimed to be ready for the elections.)

Even if the reason were not so absurd, Nigerians are politically astute enough to know that the postponement has nothing to do with security. It is a flailing act of desperation from an incumbent terrified of losing. There are fears of further postponements, of ploys to illegally extend Jonathan’s term. In a country with the specter of a military coup always hanging over it, the consequences could be dangerous. My indifference has turned to anger. What a staggeringly self-serving act of contempt for Nigerians. It has cast, at least for the next six weeks, the darkest possible shroud over our democracy: uncertainty.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/02/democracy-deferred-postponed-election-embarrassment-bad-choices-chiamanda-adichie/

http://newswirengr.com/2015/02/10/chimamanda-adichie-deferred-nigerias-postponed-election-is-an-embarrassment-of-bad-choices/

Nice write up!...Chinua Achebe's reincarnate

Though this got me laughing... ↓↓↓

When I asked a relative whom she would vote for, she said, “Jonathan of course. Am I crazy to vote for Buhari so that Nigeria will become a sharia country?”

But she got this wrong...↓↓↓

It is a flailing act of desperation from an incumbent terrified of losing. There are fears of further postponements, of ploys to illegally extend Jonathan’s term

Do we go on with elections and allow millions to be disenfranchised
Do we go on with elections when the defence chiefs say they can't guarantee security now...The answer is NO.

Buhari’s greatest source of appeal is that he is widely perceived as non-corrupt. Nigerians have been told how little money he has, how spare his lifestyle is

^^^This is a Big FAT lie!

This is almost unexpected considering the ethno-religious colouration this elections have assumed but a writer of Chimamanda's pedigree is expected to be candid on such sensitive issues and she displayed it here. I Like her closing lines

''Even if the reason were not so absurd, Nigerians are politically astute enough to know that the postponement has nothing to do with security. [size=14pt]It is a flailing act of desperation from an incumbent terrified of losing[/size]. There are fears of further postponements, of ploys to illegally extend Jonathan’s term. In a country with the specter of a military coup always hanging over it, the consequences could be dangerous. My indifference has turned to anger. What a staggeringly self-serving act of contempt for Nigerians. It has cast, at least for the next six weeks, the darkest possible shroud over our democracy: uncertainty.''

Most folks who would normally not be interested in Nigerian politics have been forced to speak out against this govt while plenty who would normally have issues with GMB have been forced to take a second look at his candidature because of the obvious cesspit the country will fall into if the activities in govt of the last 5 years are reenacted for another 4 e.g Soyinka, Adichie etc

she made some points there

GEJ, GEJ n GEJ till 2019!!!

She made so many good points though i may not like d way she end it but she did a great job

D problem of Gej is dat he was not properly market by his team, he has done some gud work in many sectors of our economy dats y u see dat even with our naira falling and oil price falling, d economy is still not shaken
but d problem is dat he works in silent hoping dat pple will see d good work and vote for him but dat does not happen in Nigeria except u tell dem using d media to remind then always
Then we hv a situation where he inherited so many unemployed youths, even if he creates 4million jobs in his tenure it won't still b enough because we hv over 30million unemployed youths
I think if he is able to win reelection he should focus on these three things, road infrastructure, steady power supply and creation of jobs for d unemployed youths in dat way he will win d hearts of many but i know he will still hv critics because no one can satisfy a human except God

pls i won't answer abusive mentions/quotes

Let's cut to the chase. We can decipher what she meant; Obviously, she is stealthily supporting Buhari

Hear her again

"This time, Buhari’s prospects are better. Jonathan is widely perceived as ineffectual, and the clearest example, which has eclipsed his entire presidency, is his response to Boko Haram

Hear her again point out the greatest problem of Jonathan. Pay attention to the highlighted portion

"[size=14pt]His response to criticism calcified to a single theme: His enemies were out to get him.[/size] When the Chibok girls were kidnapped, he and his team seemed at first to believe that it was a fraud organized by his enemies to embarrass him"

No wonder Tam David-West called him a kindergarten president. Even OBJ in his book pointed this out. Instead of tackling the problems of the nation head long, he resorted to blaming everybody forgetting the Buck stops on his table

The part of the carpenter got me laughing

apoti:

“I don’t have a voter’s card, but if I did, I would vote for somebody I don’t like,” he said. “I don’t like Buhari. But Jonathan is not performing.”

BAD CHOICES BY OBJ!!!!

Let him REAP the consequences!!!!
YES O!!!
We are desperate!!!!

Like TINUBU and BUHARI. . . . .THE 4TH TIME CONTESTANT!!!!
Na who desperate pass?

she needs to shut up.
I'm tired of these 'nigerian intellectuals' that can't say anything thought provoking. Just splattering english anywhere anyhow. What did she say that someone who only visits the Romance section of Nairaland doesn't know?

Who is she explaining that Anambrans don't trust Buhari too? Africa is full of 'intellectuals' that dedicate their lives explaining us to Oyibo, meanwhile contributing nothing to the entity they wish to explain.

Out of 2 evil, one is better. I guess the masses now sees Buhari has the best option at the moment.

Ikengawo:
she needs to shut up.
I'm tired of these 'nigerian intellectuals' that can't say anything thought provoking. Just splattering english anywhere anyhow. What did she say that someone who only visits the Romance section of Nairaland doesn't know?
Who is she explaining that Anambrans don't trust Buhari too? Africa is full of 'intellectuals' that dedicate their lives explaining us to Oyibo, meanwhile contributing nothing to the entity they wish to explain.

You must be really pained If she had joined you to lick the a$5 of the clueless one, you won't be ranting here like a wounded lion.

They dismiss references to Buhari’s
past military leadership, and couch their
willful refusal in the language of ‘change,’
as though Buhari, by representing change
from Jonathan, has also taken on an
ahistorical saintliness.



GEJ. till 2019

They dismiss references to Buhari’s
past military leadership, and couch their
willful refusal in the language of ‘change,’
as though Buhari, by representing change
from Jonathan, has also taken on an
ahistorical saintliness.



GEJ. till 2019

They dismiss references to Buhari’s
past military leadership, and couch their
willful refusal in the language of ‘change,’
as though Buhari, by representing change
from Jonathan, has also taken on an
ahistorical saintliness.



GEJ. till 2019

D prosponement of dis election is d best! Jega has bin compromised, and ya see children shouting change, is it a 72 years old dat will bring abt d change? Or d likes of tinubu asiwaju of corruption or saraki dat stole hell from d bankrupt bank, which caused many poor savers to their early grave and co dat will bring abt change. Imagine, tinubu ving access to oil wells, he will milk shit out of naija. Wen ya ready for change it will come not dis change tinubu wants to give us. Tinubu change is just a brand and grand level of corruption!

A well thought out and unbiased article, I've been waiting for her opinion about this madness called democracy where a region keeps its people in education wilderness so that they won't ask questions about how their leaders have been taking them to the cleaners

DonaldGenes:
Let's cut to the chase. We can decipher what she meant; Obviously, she is stealthily supporting Buhari

I think you didn't read the article, she listed out the flaws of both candidates and took time out to give us a hoot about the silent achievement of GEJ but which the FG did not do enough of media awareness. She at the footnote of the essay didn't endorse GMB but berated the FG for the postponement

stick to what you know best. you nothing about politics.

Faibuhari:
I think you didn't read the article, she listed out the flaws of both candidates and took time out to give us a hoot about the silent achievement of GEJ but which the FG did not do enough of media awareness. She at the footnote of the essay didn't endorse GMB but berated the FG for the postponement

Then this unmistakeable part where she essentially called gej and his military liars

"Even if the reason were not so absurd, Nigerians are politically astute enough to know that the postponement has nothing to do with security. It is a flailing act of desperation from an incumbent terrified of losing"

She reechoed what everybody already know: gej is scared of facing an election. Even america knows this (apologies to gej)

theV0ice:


Then this unmistakeable part where she essentially called gej and his military liars

"Even if the reason were not so absurd, Nigerians are politically astute enough to know that the postponement has nothing to do with security. It is a flailing act of desperation from an incumbent terrified of losing"

She reechoed what everybody already know: gej is scared of facing an election. Even america knows this (apologies to gej)

the last part you quoted applies to everyone, Nobody wants to lose in any endeavour so you ve got to do evrything within your arsenal to achieve victory.

TANoids have already starting to castigate her, saTANist will even disown their fathers if they are having diverging views regarding GEJ's administration, the only ppl supporting the clueless one are those benefiting illegally from his administration or those that are blinded by ethno/religious bias.

Feminist, but made valid points

Faibuhari:
the last part you quoted applies to everyone, Nobody wants to lose in any endeavour so you ve got to do evrything within your arsenal to achieve victory.

Kudos to you for being honest about it.

It shows PDP and gej are indeed terrified of facing candidate GMB at the polls even though metuh, okupe, omokri and their online hacks would have us believe otherwise.

Politics is not writing novels so my sister concentrate on your books.

Ikengawo:
she needs to shut up.
I'm tired of these 'nigerian intellectuals' that can't say anything thought provoking. Just splattering english anywhere anyhow. What did she say that someone who only visits the Romance section of Nairaland doesn't know?

Who is she explaining that Anambrans don't trust Buhari too? Africa is full of 'intellectuals' that dedicate their lives explaining us to Oyibo, meanwhile contributing nothing to the entity they wish to explain.

I can assure you that Chimamanda has been one of the few bright spots in Nigeria's intellectual circles. Then again how would you know if seldom look at things without a jaundiced perspective.

#change
#GMB
#APC

theV0ice:


Kudos to you for being honest about it.

It shows PDP and gej are indeed terrified of facing candidate GMB at the polls even though metuh, okupe, omokri and their online hacks would have us believe otherwise.

I t also show that APC will engage in a lot of lies and propaganda to claim power

Faibuhari:
I t also show that APC will engage in a lot of lies and propaganda to claim power

No my friend. The paragraph in question mentioned incumbent. I'm sure you know who the incumbent is??

Even if the reason were not so absurd, Nigerians are politically astute enough to know that the postponement has nothing to do with security. [size=16pt]It is a flailing act of desperation from an incumbent terrified of losing[/size]

theV0ice:


Then this unmistakeable part where she essentially called gej and his military liars

"Even if the reason were not so absurd, Nigerians are politically astute enough to know that the postponement has nothing to do with security. It is a flailing act of desperation from an incumbent terrified of losing"

She reechoed what everybody already know: gej is scared of facing an election. Even america knows this (apologies to gej)

The last paragraph of her article relied on her assumption that INEC's stated reason for postponing the elections were true. In the days after the postponement, it has become apparent that INEC merely sought to deflect attention from its own unreadiness and lack of preparation by shifting blames to the Military.

It has become public knowledge that several cogent and verifiable factors were responsible for the postponement - poor rate of PVC distribution (with as much as 23 million PVCs still uncollected nationwide), poor level of training for ad-hoc staff on how to operate the card readers, lack of evidence to show that the card readers have been tested and would function flawlessly during the elections, inadequacy of election materials, etc. In light of the new evidence, I'm sure Chimamanda would hold a very different view now and would not express the same opinion indicated in the last paragraph of this article.

I'm in love with the way this woman writes. Very articulate! Though I didn't share her views about Buhari.

#March4Buhari

hedonistic:


The last paragraph of her article relied on her assumption that INEC's stated reason for postponing the elections were true. In the days after the postponement, it has become apparent that INEC merely sought to deflect attention from its own unreadiness and lack of preparation by shifting blames to the Military.

It has become public knowledge that several cogent and verifiable factors were responsible for the postponement - poor rate of PVC distribution (with as much as 23 million PVCs still uncollected nationwide), poor level of training for ad-hoc staff on how to operate the card readers, lack of evidence to show that the card readers have been tested and would function flawlessly during the elections, inadequacy of election materials, etc. In light of the new evidence, I'm sure Chimamanda would hold a very different view now and would not express the same opinion indicated in the last paragraph of this article.

Your excuses could have been tenable if not for the apparent dishonesty of the NSA and other security chiefs. See what they said on Feb 3

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/02/ready-elections-service-chiefs/

Before their volte-face less than 4 days later. Why the inconsistency? If the real problem was inec's 'unpreparedness', why blackmail jega into submission using security?

No one will blame Adichie for arriving at the conclusion she did. Our dishonest military chiefs didn't give her any choice