Maire, Kathleen, Margaret and I had our bags packed and tickets bought to go to Abuja for Valentine’s weekend.  Normally this would be a happy trip but Valentine’s Day 2015 was to be the Election Day for the presidency and the members of the National Assembly.  Tension had been simmering for the previous few months and rumours of bloodshed had people frightened.  In the early days of February tension was at boiling point.  Many people went south to their home States.  Bishop Stephen urged us to leave Adamawa for the duration of the elections as the outcome of the election and the aftermath was too unpredictable.

Less than a week to the election date the military announced that they could not guarantee the safety of the citizens if the elections went ahead.  They were overstretched as the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East needed a huge concentration of military.  The Independent National Electoral Commission had no option but to postpone the elections in the interest of the safety of the people.  There was turmoil and anger and panic.  The President was accused of delaying the election so that he could rally the electorate behind him.  There were rumours of an interim government as a tie was predicted at the polls.

The new date for the elections was set for the 28th March.  So we stayed at home for Valentine’s weekend and wondered what would happen next.

Political campaigns gathered momentum in the interim period and every second day we had the arrival of the big political kingmakers and wannabe kings from Abuja in Yola.  Sometimes they were received with stones and jeers and other times they were cheered and welcomed.  There were more than a dozen contenders but the incumbent President Jonathan and the opposition’s General Buhari were the real protagonists.  This was Buhari’s fourth attempt at becoming the Nigerian President.

We enjoyed our pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and launched into the Lenten fast and prayers with extra intensity.  Muslims and Christians sent their heartfelt desires for peace and calm heavenwards hoping against hope that 28th March would not herald the crumbling of Nigeria as a nation.

We drowned the shamrock together with our former Ambassador Paddy Fay and some Irish ‘PW’ (Nigerian Construction and Engineering Company) workers here in Yola and discussed the political scenario.  None of us was too hopeful of/for a peaceful outcome of the elections.

As 28th March drew near we packed our bags again and got our tickets for Abuja where we would be spending part of Holy Week.  We arrived at the SMA Regional House in Abuja on 26th and hoped and prayed that we would not have to travel further afield as D-day approached.

And then Election Day came.  Abuja was on ‘lock down’ and was like a ghost town.  We could have been on the Blasket Islands!

Things started off on a bad note when in the full glare of television, President Jonathan’s finger print did not register on the Voters card reader that had to verify every voter.  He had to leave the polling booth without voting.  He returned later after lodging a complaint to the Electoral Commission and cast his ballot.    People feared that this was a bad omen.

But as the day went on, the various TV stations brought scenes of the millions of voters lining up to cast their ballots at many of the 150,000 polling booths in the land.  As we watched the voting with the SMA community we were relieved to see those of opposing political, religious, tribal and regional sentiment bantering and jesting with each other.  In some places it was carnival like.  Voting continued on to the next day, Palm Sunday.

The counting of votes began on Monday and continued on into Tuesday. This was at the Independent Electoral Commission’s office in Abuja and was televised for all to witness.  It was nail biting and it was easy to get caught up in the atmosphere of excitement and anticipation.  Now and then party agents interrupted the proceedings with their tantrums and brought a bit of pantomime to the serious proceedings!

On Tuesday the jigsaw of how the States were being won and lost began to emerge.  Buhari was leading comfortably but there were still more results to come.  That evening President Jonathan in the quiet of his office took up the phone and called Buhari.  He congratulated him and conceded defeat.   The count continued until the early hours of Wednesday morning when finally Buhari was declared the winner and became President–Elect of Nigeria.

That simple act of the President taking up the phone and conceding defeat hours before the final tally sent whispers of hope throughout the nation.  The people had never seen the like of this.  It was as if he had waved a magic wand and peace and calm descended on Nigeria.  The terrible tension was doused.

African leaders are not known for such humility or maturity.

Those who were ready for post election violence were wrong footed and confounded.  In fact, they now celebrated Buhari’s victory violently. Many died in the various antics of racing cars and motor bikes on the streets of most cities and towns.  Young men who refused to obey the police, found themselves imprisoned or shot.

The hundreds of election observers and monitors from many countries, including, Celia Keaveny from Donegal, declared that the election was on the whole, free, fair and peaceful.

Nigerians seem to be learning many lessons from this election.  Politicians now realize that the electorate was not to be toyed with.  The public will not sell their votes again.  They saw from President Jonathan’s actions how to be magnanimous in defeat.  They saw from General Buhari how to persist in the pursuit of your dream.  They learned too that if people can unite for a cause good things can happen.  People are saying that the winds of change are blowing across the country.  Time will tell.

We returned to Yola on Holy Saturday and felt that we had had a ‘wee resurrection’ experience during Holy Week.  The Nigerian people had confounded the world by holding peaceful elections and President Jonathan had set a new standard of behavior for politicians.

Not everyone was thrilled with the election result but no one can deny that Nigeria has taken a new step in the development of their nascent democracy.

Goretti Kelleher rsm
Nigeria