The 2011 general elections have come and gone,but, it would remain indelible in the annals of the nation’s political history.
To many, the elections were free and fair. To others, especially candidates who lost their deposits, the poll was a mirage.
The exercise was applauded by the international community, including the government of the United States of America. But, traces of skirmishes and irregularities were not ruled out.
The over 60 political parties that tested their might at the polls have their lessons to learn. However, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) made a great gain.
In the run up to the elections, the ACN declared its intention to seize the Southwest by the storm and make an in-road to other zones.
The party has become arguably the strongest opposition to the PDP, given its outing at the elections.
Its bid to produce a President failed, yet, ACN will console itself with the statement it made during the state and federal parliamentary elections in the Southwest.
Before now, the bulk of the party’s representatives at the National Assembly came from Lagos. Infact since 1999, the party had given no chance to any form of opposition in Lagos State and status quo has persisted even with the 2011 elections.
The ACN also regained the opportunity that had eluded it since 2003 in the south West as it finally wrested power from Ogun and Oyo States at all levels including at the governorship level.
Presently, the only presence of the PDP in Oyo is the 10 seats which it won in the State House of Assembly elections, with 14 going to the ACN and eight to the Accord Party (AP).
For those states, Lagos would provide a viable example of how to safeguard its mandate and win back the heart of the people and bring about developmental changes that would make them forget the pains of the past suffered under the PDP led governments.
If there was one election that was considered a no-battle by political pundits and even some opposition candidates, it was the Lagos gubernatorial elections.
State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) had proved beyond doubts that good governance and implementation of people oriented policies as well as visible infrastructural development would endear the heart of the people to the government.
Governor Fashola who secured a total number of 1,509,113 votes in the 20 Local Government Areas of the state to defeat his closest rival Dr. Ade Dosunmu, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP who trailed far behind with 300,450 votes, assured Lagosians that better days await them.
In his acceptance speech shortly after the independent National Electoral Commission announced him the winner; Governor Fashola described his victory as a triumph for progressive governance in the state and Nigeria in particular.
He thanked Lagosians for their support and resilience to ensure his victory, while stressing that the real victory belongs to the Corp members who lost their lives serving the nation during the entire exercise.
He stressed the need for the country not to forget the sacrifice of the slain National Youth Service Corps members, saying that they have been instruments through which God has began to rock change in the country.
He tasked the three senators, 24 House of Representative members, and 40 House of Assembly candidates who won their elections on the platform of the ACN to ensure that the labour of the corpers who lost their lives would not be in vain.
According to him, “Let me single out the young men and women of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), and I think that this victory, this threshold is really their day, they are an instrument to what has began as a revolution in this country.
“They have stood up for their generation and I think they have been better for this nation. First they gave us a voter register that was accepted, secondly they gave us an election and by many standard of our previous performance its credible, in spite of the challenges.
“But in that process, many of them lost their lives, they are heroes, they are martyrs, I want to use this opportunity to appeal to everybody who holds office from today to remember that they (NYSC) shed their blood so that they can hold office.
“The only way we can continue to immortalize their efforts is to go out there and do the work, the electorate demand of us and change the lives of the people to make things better within the means of our ability”.
Describing the mandate given to him by Lagosians to serve them for another four years as bigger than his 2007 feat, Fashola promised that his administration would work tirelessly to surpass its achievements in the last four years, assuring that Lagos would be better for it.
“My understanding of it is that it is demanded of us to do more than we have done. On behalf of the members of my team and the ACN, I assure you that you would not find us wanting, we would double our efforts to make your lives better, we would do whatever we can to use our resources to improve the lives of the people” he stressed.
Fashola also saluted the Chairman of the INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega saying that the commission has proved beyond doubts that the country was on the threshold of getting its electoral process right.
“At some point in time, things pointed to disaster and difficult times ahead, but I think that with these elections, we have reasoned with ourselves and said that we would not accept certain things anymore, there is still a lot of work to do about our elections, but this is progress and we must build on it”.
