FLASHBACK: How Buhari, Tinubu, el-Rufai Led 2013 Protest Calling For Jega’s Resignation
On November 29, 2013, leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) marched to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja to protest the outcome of the Anambra governorship election.
William Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) was elected to succeed Peter Obi as governor with 180,178 votes.
Tony Nwoye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) got 97,700 votes to place second while APC’s Chris Ngige came third with 95,963.
The APC leaders alleged rigging and called for the resignation of Attahiru Jega as INEC chairman.
Leading the protest were Muhammadu Buhari, who later became president in 2015; Bisi Akande, then national chairman of the APC; Bola Tinubu, who later became president in 2023; Ogbonnaya Onu, also late, and Nasir el-Rufai, who later served as governor of Kaduna state.
The protesters trekked about five kilometres from the APC national secretariat in Blantyre street, Wuse II, Abuja, to Zambezi Crescent in Maitama district, where INEC is located.
The initial stage of the march was led by Ibikunle Amosun and Kayode Fayemi, the then governors of Ogun and Ekiti, and many members of the national assembly.
The procession was later coordinated by Buba Galadima and el-Rufai, who are now chieftains of the African Democratic Congress (ADC)
The protest was organised to demand the cancellation of the November 16 Anambra governorship election.
The APC demanded the resignation of Jega and called for the dissolution of commission’s management.
Protesters waved brooms, the symbol of the APC, and carried placards with inscriptions including “Cancel Anambra Governorship Election Now”, “Election Fraud Must Stop Now”, “Anambra Election: Jega, not the INEC Messiah, Resign Now”, and “2015, No hope with Jega”.
Tinubu and other opposition leaders during the protest
Security personnel mounted barricades near the INEC headquarters and blocked access to the commission’s gate.
The protesters broke through an initial police barricade but were stopped by security forces backed by an armoured vehicle.
The group held a rally about 50 metres from the INEC gate, while party officials submitted a protest letter to INEC.
Akande said the protest was against electoral malpractice.
“If INEC is around to take this, we are ready to give it to INEC. The letter is our protest against the rigging of Anambra election,” he said.
“The rigging of election is the greatest fraud that any nation can have and we want to stop electoral rigging in Nigeria.”
Buhari said the APC wanted the cancellation of the election.
“We are here mainly to give the letter to INEC on our representation to do away with the election in Anambra that was conducted and demanding the cancellation of the election totally and fix another day for the election,” Buhari said.
“We are here to serve warning signal to INEC. As an institution, they do not represent the interest of Nigeria. We are calling for dissolution of INEC immediately,” Tinubu said.
“We are determined for liberty — to liberate Nigeria, to change election thievery, change the electoral fraud, to change the institution here. Jega cannot manage the people, he should resign immediately. No one will accept this result from him. We have engaged him enough with excuses; we are no more taking them. This is our institution.”
Onu said the party wanted credible elections.
“We want free and fair election in our country. Why is PDP afraid of free and fair elections?” he said.
Dino Melaye, who is now an ADC chieftain, said electoral reforms would transform the country.
“Once we have a sanitised electoral system, we will celebrate the obituary of PDP forever,” he said during the protest.
The protest ended after the party submitted its letter to INEC.
The APC later won the presidential election and became the ruling party
Source: THE CABLE
