How These 6 Persons Defined Nigeria’s Politics In 2018

The year 2018 may have come to an end, but some major political events that shaped the nation’s politics in the course of the year will remain with us for a long time. Likewise, the political moves that led to increased prominence or otherwise for some politicians during the year will not be forgotten in a haste.

 

Among some of the politicians who defined Nigeria’s politics in 2018 are President of the Nigerian Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose and the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

Others are the winner and aspirant of the Osun state governorship election, Mr Gboyega Oyetola and Senator Ademola Adelek.  Also worthy of mention is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who steered some controversies that gained attention from within and outside the country.

 

 

1. Bukola Saraki

The year 2018 will undoubtedly remain historic in the political career of Mr Saraki as it marks the year he perhaps suffered his greatest career turbulence owing to his now discharged assets declaration case at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). Saraki’s defection from the ruling All Progressives Congress to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also made it the first time in Nigeria’s political history that a sitting Senate President will switch from one political party to another.

Saraki also became the first Nigerian Senate President to be issued with arrest warrant, when Mr Danladi Umar, Chairman of the Code Of Conduct Tribunal, issued an arrest warrant against him on September 18, 2015.

These events posed serious threats to Saraki’s office as the Chairman of the 8^th National Assembly, as there were series of calls for him to step down as Senate President when he was charged with the allegation of false assets declaration and when he defected from a majority to a minority political party in the Senate.

 

2. Atiku Abubakar

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar became a major issue in the country’s political arena in 2018 following his decision to run against President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 presidential election. Atiku had long before the gale of defections that rocked the APC during the year returned to his erstwhile party, the PDP, knowing that his presidential ambition may not be feasible if he remained in the ruling party. The move brought about the current situation where the two leading presidential candidates in the 2019 presidential elections are from the North and are of the Fulani ethnic extraction. Their emergence as candidates of the two leading political parties in the country has left northerners, and perhaps Nigerians at large, in a dicey situation where they would have to pick between the two popular contenders for the number one political office in the land.

 

The former Vice President had beaten other aspirants such as Bukola Saraki, Senator Reabiu Kwanwanso, among others, to win the keenly contested presidential primary election of the PDP. His victory at the PDP primary election pitched him as the most popular and financially buoyant candidate of the main opposition party to run against President Buhari in 2019.

 

Atiku’s third presidential run, after previously serving as vice president between 1999 to 2006, also made him the most talked about politician in Nigeria in 2018. This was revealed after technology and search engine giant, Google, released its annual list of top trending queries in 2018. Data provided by Google showed that Atiku was the only Nigerian politician in the list of top personalities searched by the citizens on the search engine.

 

3. Adams Oshiomhole

A run down of the political events and politicians that defined the nation’s politics in 2018 may not be complete without mentioning how Comrade Adams Oshiomhole emerged as the National Chairman of the APC unopposed and how his conduct of the ruling party’s primary elections drew a lot of controversies, some of which are still lingering today.

 

It was believed that Oshiomhole’s challengers in the race to become APC Chairman backed out because the former Edo State governor had the strong backing of President Buhari and some key APC governors. Some of the governors who had supported Oshiomhole’s chairmanship bid are believed to now be among the party’s chieftains who became aggrieved due to the outcome of the ruling party’s primaries.

 

The APC Chairman had been accused of receiving bribes to influence the outcome of some of the party’s primary elections. The allegations became intense after the wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, took to her Twitter account to air her grievances over alleged illegalities that trailed the primary elections, expressing disappointment that the APC Chairman could allegedly allow “impunity” to thrive under his watch.

 

The First Lady had said, “It is disheartening to note that some aspirants used their hard earned money to purchase nomination forms, got screened, cleared and campaigned vigorously yet found their names omitted on Election Day, these forms were bought at exorbitant prices,”

 

“Many others contested and yet had their result delayed. Fully knowing that AUTOMATIC tickets have been given to other people. All Progressives Congress being a party whose cardinal principle is change and headed by a comrade/ activist whose main concern is for the common man, yet, such impunity could take place under its watch.

 

“Given this development one will not hesitate than DISSOCIATE from such unfairness, be neutral and speak for the voiceless,” Mrs Buhari had said.

 

Governors Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State had similarly expressed dissatisfaction with Oshiomhole’s conduct of the APC primaries which saw their preferred governorship candidates losing to other candidates.

 

4. Ayodele Fayose

The immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, undeniably attracted a lot of attention during the last governorship election that held in the state. Despite boastfully stating on several occasions that his preferred governorship candidate, Olusola Eleka, would defeat Dr Kayode Fayemi of the APC, the latter defeated the PDP candidate who happened to be his deputy while in office.

 

Also, Fayose’s reported attempt to declare Professor Eleka as winner of the Ekiti governorship election before INEC’s announcement of the results, as well as his abandoned presidential bid, earned him a spot as one of the politicians who shaped the nation’s politics during the year.

 

5. Ademola Adeleke

Former governorship candidate of the PDP in Osun state, Senator Ademola Adeleke, may have attained a heroic rank in his party if he had defeated Gboyega Oyetola of the APC to become governor of the state.  The ‘dancing senator’ gave the ruling party a tough time after first polling more votes than Oyetola before a rerun election was ordered by INEC due to cancelled votes in some poling units. Although he eventually lost to the APC candidate, Adeleke was able to poll 255, 023 votes against Oyetola who scored 255,505 votes after securing the support of Senator Iyiola Omisore, who was candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the election.

 

6. Nnamdi Kanu

After prolonged disappearance, IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu made headlines following his sudden reappearance in a video that went viral on social media . The IPOB leader, who had been missing for close to a year following a raid on his family house in Abia State by troops of the Operation Python Dance, was seen in the video praying in far Israel.

 

The secessionist group’s leader had become popular for his call on the Nigerian government to grant the South East region of the country self-determination.

 

Kanu’s claim that President Buhari had allegedly died and was being impersonated by a certain Jubril from Sudan however became a heated discussion in some quarters of the media. The discussion gained wide currency when the President, for the first time, dismissed the claim during his recent trip to Poland where he had gone to attend the COP24 Summit. Buhari had told the Nigerian community in the country that there was no truth to the ‘Jubril from Sudan’ narrative.

 

The President had tweeted at the time: “One of the questions that came up today in my meeting with Nigerians in Poland was on the issue of whether I‘ve been cloned or not. The ignorant rumours are not surprising — when I was away on medical vacation last year a lot of people hoped I was dead.

 

“Poor Prof Yemi Osinbajo, even he had to deal with the rumours — Some people reached out to him to consider them to be his Vice President because they assumed I was dead. That embarrassed him a lot; we discussed it when he visited me while I was convalescing.

 

The President added that, “I can assure you all that this is the real me. Later this month I will celebrate my 76th birthday. And I’m still going strong!”