5 Issues That Have Made Buhari More Popular This Year

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari started this year on a very bright note. He was apparently the most popular politician in the country at the time the year started.
The hashtag #FeBuhari trended on social media and a lot people got behind him strongly.
It looked like he was in the lead to win the upcoming election.

Some issues have since come up this year that could have diminished his goodwill and derailed his campaign, but these issues seem to have worked in his favour somehow, either by strengthening his popularity or by weakening his opponent’s popularity. It looks like he now has an unassailable advantage with just weeks to the big election.

Here are the five issues that have made Buhari more popular this year.

Buhari

1. The Articles

Last month, Charles Soludo wrote a story condemning the Jonathan administration and praising the Obasanjo adminstration as a better one. He didn’t directly support Buhari or APC in the story, but the story tacitly favoured Buhari because it aligned with their position concerning the government and the need for change, which their campaign is based on. The article and subsequent sequels generated some controversy in the country and it was bad publicity for the president whose rating was already awful.

Apart from that, the foreign media have also contributed to the election buildup. The Economist magazine and the New York Times each did a comparative story about Buhari and Jonathan in which they hit the president hard for his governance. For instance, The Economist referred to Jonathan as an utter failure and was heavily critical of the president. They also criticised his opponent and called him a former dictator who has blood on his hands, but they favoured Buhari over Jonathan. It bolstered support for Buhari remarkably.

2. The Endorsements

Buhari got some endorsements this year from important people. It looks like everyone who’s who in the country wants to take a shot at the president. This month Obasanjo reportedly endorsed Buhari and it caused some trouble. The resulting backlash from the PDP camp led to Obasanjo’s withdrawing from the party. Some people say it was the party that fired him, but anyway the incident considerably disfavoured the president and further drew from his support. It was a sign that things weren’t going well for his campaign team, and it’s been to Buhari’s advantage ever since.

3. The Mudslinging

People from the PDP camp have been trying to discredit Buhari on various bases. For example, Femi Fani-Kayode and Fayose have been trying to get people to believe Buhari is sick. Fayose even put an ad out implying that Buhari would die in office if he becomes president. Then some people also called him out and challenged him to produce his certificate, suggesting he wasn’t academically qualified to stand for president. They’ve also tried to vilify him by referring to his past record as a dictator. But despite all these, it’s made Buhari supporters stauncher than ever.

4. The Broadcasts

AIT and NTA have been showing some paid videos on their station this year, clearly aimed to ruin Buhari’s image and portray him in the worst way possible. One video features the voice of a woman who was served the maximum sentence under the Buhari regime and showed old pictures of her kids, apparently to provoke viewers against Buhari. But it’s not working for most of those people who’ve already decided to vote the former soldier, plus it’s cast a shadow on the president’s sincerity and has even brought those TV stations to disrepute.

5. The Poll Shift

President Jonathan said he knew nothing about INEC’s decision to move the election, but some people thought his team engineered the shift to buy him some more time to reinforce.

The deferment is apparently paying off because the army and its allied forces have since launched a major offensive in the region, and now it looks like they have the upper hand and the insurgency has subsided. Perhaps it was a good decision after all, but a lot of people didn’t see it that way at first. They thought it was a conspiracy, and it affected the president’s rating badly in favour of Buhari.

It’s now five weeks to the election and the buildup is starting to pick up again after the lag that the poll shift caused. Buhari can maintain his goodwill or Jonathan can turn it around in the remaining time left. Either way, what’s most important for the Nigerian people is to have peace during and after the election.
Goodluck Jonathan is not doing very bad with his campaign either. The incumbent president, a few days ago, reminded Nigerians of reasons why they should vote for him.