Why Coalition collapsed... 

The NDP suit is seeking an order to set aside “the entire set of elections comprised of elections into the Houses of Assembly of the various States of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and of Governors of the said States conducted in defiance of the doctrine of lis pendens by the Defendant/Respondent on 14^th of April 2007.” 

The second relief sought by the NDP is an “order of interlocutory injunction restraining INEC and its servants, agents and privies from proceeding with plans to conduct elections to the House of Representatives and Senate of the Federal Republic and the President of the said Federal Republic of Nigeria at any time until the final determination of the substantive issues in this suit.” 

In a related development, the boycott of tomorrow’s election which was agreed to by the Coalition of Political Parties after their meeting of April 17, 2007 will not take place as some of the political parties have decided to participate in the elections. 

The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and its presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was the first to make the decision to participate in the elections of Saturday April 21, 2007. This led the Action Congress (AC) and their presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to join in the elections. Also, the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and their presidential candidate, Gov. Attahiru Bafarawa has decided to contest the election.  

Many reasons have been adduced for Buhari reneging on the agreement reached with other members of the Coalition. It has been suggested that Gen. Buhari, for a long time, have come to see himself as the next president of Nigeria. According to some of the presidential candidates who spoke to Elendureports.com: “Buhari is too rigid and blinded by ambition that he does not see that participating in this election only legitimizes the charade and coronation of Musa Yar’adua. How does he expect to win the presidential election when the previous week the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supposedly won in 29 states? What magic is Buhari going to do to win the majority votes in Nigeria one week after he lost woefully?” 

Another reason, though unconfirmed, is that the Federal Government may have played games on Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. According to stories making the rounds within the political circles, Sunday Awoniyi, the chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (AC) met with Gen. Buhari shortly after the boycott resolution of the Coalition and impressed on him the necessity of contesting in the presidential elections in defiance of the Coalition’s resolve. Awoniyi is said to have told Buhari that he had more to lose by pulling out of the election as the parties in the coalition had no chance of winning the presidential election while Buhari had a good chance of emerging victorious. Unknown to Buhari, Awoniyi may have been doing the bidding of Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo. All attempts to contact Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Sunday Awoniyi were not successful.  

Yusuf Ali, former chairman of ANPP and a stalwart of DPP told Elendureports.com: “I doubt that Awoniyi would do the bidding of Obasanjo. In fact, I can bet with my blood that Awoniyi will not do that.” 

However, Elendureports.com can reveal that Gen. Buhari lobbied very seriously for the other presidential candidates in the Coalition to step down and endorse him for tomorrow’s polls. They resisted his attempts. During a breakfast meeting between Vice Pres. Atiku Abubakar and Gen. Buhari, the issue of boycott was raised and the Vice President signified his intention to boycott the elections if that would force a postponement of the elections. Buhari demanded that the Vice President endorse him instead.  

27 Ulamas from the North had also met with Buhari, Atiku, and Bafarawa and asked them to choose a consensus candidate amongst themselves. Atiku Abubakar and Attahiru Bafarawa signaled their intentions to work with anybody chosen amongst them while Buhari informed the Ulamas that he was willing to consider nominees from Atiku and Bafarawa as ministerial nominees. According to sources privy to the meetings, Atiku then informed the Ulamas that he would never step down for or endorse Buhari as presidential candidate. This mutual distrust may have led to the collapse of the Coalition’s resolve to boycott the elections. 

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