The two men that would seek the votes of eligible Nigerians from the two major political parties are now known to Nigerians. Incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari was the unchallenged candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC). The national congress of the APC, which held in Abuja on Saturday was a mere show to formally announce Buhari as the APC’s sole presidential candidate of the party come 2019.
The battle was with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where the battle to elect their presidential flagbearer for the 2019 presidential election was herculean because 12 eminently qualifies political heavyweights contested for the slot. But at the end, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clinched the victory.
With the emergence of these two political gladiators, the voting public now know for certainty the leading contenders when the file out to vote in 2019. If the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were to be independent in the true sense of the word, one can indeed say that Nigerians would choose from the two men whom they want to lead them for the next four years come 2019. But with the barrage of allegations trailing INEC’s role in the Osun State elections, the drama of 2019 may not have ended with the emergence of Buhari and Atiku. The drama may just have begun.