The federal republic of Nigeria was left off the stranglehold of a protracted military rule on the 29th of May, 1999. This saw the former army General, Olusegun Obasanjo at the helm of the country for the second time, the first time was as a military head of State. General Abdulsalam Abubakar handed power over to him.
And ever since 1999, democracy has come to stay in Nigeria, as we've had successive civilian administrations. Nigerians have however voted based on a number of factors, ranging from; religious sentiments, cultural attachments, political affiliations and other extant ideologies.
In this article, we shall carefully delve into the archives of Nigeria's past elections and the most recent one in 2019, this will enable us to determine who the most popular Nigerian President is.
2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS
The 2019 elections was an all-northerner affair. The two Frontline candidates; Incumbent president Mohammadu Buhari and former vice president Atiku Abubakar were both from the northern part of the country.
It was quite a controversial election owing to a number of issues that ensued before and after the elections were concluded.
It will be recalled that on the very day that the elections were scheduled to hold(16 February 2019), Nigerians woke up to the very appalling news that the elections have been postponed by one week (23 February). This actually was not unattended to by various backlashes from numerous quarters against this brusque action of the Federal government and the electoral umpire, INEC.
The main opposition party, People's democratic party (PDP) did what was expected by accusing the ruling APC of plotting to rig the elections. Buhari would later win the election for the second term in office to execute his 'next level' agenda.
The election was marred with various cases of violence, ballot box snatching, vote buying among others. Atiku rejected the results of the polls and insisted that INEC release the results earlier uploaded on their portal but the agency denied having such a platform.
Buhari defeated his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar with the total vote of 15, 191, 847, winning in 19 states, this accounting for 55.6% of the entire vote. Atiku carried 17 states plus the FCT with a total vote of 11, 262,978, accounting for 41.2%.
2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS
This was one of the most interesting elections in the annals of Nigeria's history. It was one that saw an incumbent president being voted out of the office.
The major opposition, All Progressives congress (APC) was an amalgam of three major political parties in the three regions of the country; Congress for progressive change (CPC) in the north, Action congress of Nigeria in the south west, parts of All Progressives grand alliance (APGA) in the south east and a fallout section of the then ruling People's democratic party (PDP) rebranded as the new PDP. This robust alliance was enough for Buhari to coast home to victory without much stress.
Goodluck Jonathan lost his reelection bid owing largely to his perceived lackadaisical attitude to a serious security challenge from the dreaded terrorist sect, Boko Haram, who had abducted over 200 students of the Government girls college, Chibok in Borno State.
Mohammadu Buhari won the election in 21 states with a total vote of 15,424,921 (53.96%) while his closest rival, Gooduck Jonathan polled 12,853,162 (44.96%) by winning in 15 states of the federation plus the FCT.
2011 GENERAL ELECTIONS
The presidential election was held in Nigeria on 16 April 2011, postponed from 9 April 2011. The election was inconveniently perched on the background of a controversy of whether a christian or Muslim should be the next in line for the office. President Musa Yar'adua had died and Gooduck Jonathan had assumed office in the interim, and eventually contested the elections.
Goodluck Jonathan won the election with a total vote of 22,495,187, defeating Mohammadu Buhari of the CPC, who polled 12,214,853 and Nuhu Ribadu of the ACN who polled 2,079,151 votes.
2007 GENERAL ELECTIONS
This was a highly controversial election in which former Katsina Governor, Umaru Musa Yar'adua won for the ruling PDP. Yaradua had been handpicked by the outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo as his anointed candidate.
Groups monitoring the election, including the international observers rated it below par. Chief European Union observer Max van den Berg reported that the handling of the polls had "fallen far short" of basic international standards, and that "the process cannot be considered to be credible." A spokesman for the United States Department of State said it was "deeply troubled" by election polls, calling them "flawed", and said it hoped the political parties would resolve any differences over the election through peaceful, constitutional means.
PDP's Yar'adua won in 26 states with a total vote of 24,638,063 (69.6%) while ANPP'S Buhari polled 6,605,299 (18.66%) and ACN's Atiku Abubakar polled 2,637,848 (7.45%).
2003 GENERAL ELECTIONS
Around this timeline, Olusegun Obasanjo was contesting for his reelection as president. He had Mohammadu Buhari as his main challenger.
Obasanjo went on to win the election with a total vote of 24,456,140 (61.94%), winning in 25 states plus the FCT. Buhari carried 5 states as he polled 12,710,022 votes (32.19%).
1999 GENERAL ELECTIONS
Nigeria was just coming out of a long reign of the men in khakis and one of them had just been released from detention, he ran for the office and won.
Olusegun Obasanjo of the then newly formed People's democratic party won the election with a total vote of 18,738,154 (62.78%), defeating Olu falae of the AD-APP coalition, who polled 11,110,281 (37.22%).
Looking at the above figures, the most popular Nigerian President with the most popular votes till date is no other than the late Umaru Musa Yar'adua in the 2007 general elections, followed closely by Olusegun Obasanjo in the 2003 elections. It should also be noted that during the 2003 elections, Nigeria had the highest voter turnout till date, official results from INEC pegged it at 42 million voters.
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