Every politician that contests an election should be ready to suffer a loss or defeat. There is nothing to be ashamed of. The fact that a politician fails to win an election does not necessarily mean that such a politician is not electable. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America was one of the greatest American Presidents. He successfully prosecuted the American Civil War and abolished slavery. He lost election eight times but didn’t quit. This is the one of the greatest Presidents in history. Ronald Reagan the 40th President of the United States lost two Presidential Nominations in the Republican Party. He lost firstly in 1968 to Richard Nixon. In 1976 Reagan lost the Presidential Nomination of the Republican Party to Gerald Ford. Reagan became President in 1980 when he defeated Jimmy Carter. In 1984 he was re-elected for a second term. John Kennedy the 35th President of the United States lost a bid to be nominated the Vice Presidential Candidate to Governor Adlai Stevenson who won the Presidential Nomination of the Democratic Party in the 1956 Presidential Election. President Bill Clinton lost an election to the House of Representatives in 1974. He lost to Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt. President Clinton also lost a re-election to be Governor of the Arkansas in 1980 when he lost to Frank D. White. President Barack Obama lost a House of Representatives election in 1999 to Congressman, Bobby Rush. So General Muhammadu Buhari is a champion and he would never quit. Champions do not quit. Abraham Lincoln was a champion and he never quit. Lincoln lost elections in 1836; 1838; 1840; 1843; 1846; 1848; 1849; 1854; 1856 but won the Presidential Election of 1860. General Buhari is a champion of Nigerian democratic struggle. His persistence has led to the electoral reforms that took place in 2011 and led to the improvement in the conduct of 2011 General Election. It is only a person without a sense of history and decency who would want to ridicule General Buhari because he lost three fundamentally flawed elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011. The election of 2007 was so poorly conducted and rigged that late President Umaru Yar’adua who was the beneficiary of that election, conceded that it was badly conducted. A legal challenge of the election in the Supreme Court saw three Justices of that Court agreeing with General Buhari that the election should be cancelled. Dr. Okupe would have done well if he had told us what President Jonathan has done to justify Nigerians giving him a second chance. He would have told us why the country is generating less than 3,000 mw of electricity despite the heavy investment of more than $50 billion into the Sector rather than descending into the abyss of mud rake. He should tell us why the Federal Unity Colleges are still under lock and key, about a month plus when other children in both Public and Private schools are in session. Dr. Okupe ought to know that Nigerians are no longer interested in smear election campaigns but on issues. The sooner he realises that, the better. By Okoi Obono-Obla
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 13:59:09 +0000
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