The 2011 general elections in Nigeria finally concluded

The 2011 general elections in Nigeria have finally been concluded with the last round of elections – the gubernatorial elections, the elections into the state houses of assembly and National Assembly elections which had been postponed in certain districts - conducted on the 26th April for most States and on the 28th April for Bauchi and Kaduna states.

The latter were further postponed following the devastating riots that greeted the announcement that President Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had been re-elected president ahead of his closest rival, Gen Muhammadu Buhari of the opposition Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

The gubernatorial elections saw the PDP overwhelming losing what had become its tenuous grip on Nigeria's predominantly Yoruba south-west to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which firmly cemented its position as the region's dominant political party.

As some reports put it the PDP lost to the “rascals” – which was an allusion to Jonathan's alleged comment during one of his south-west campaign rallies when he referred to ACN as rascals. He had said that the electorate should not allow the region to fall into the hands of “rascals” which, by that time, had already gained ground and controlled three of the six states in the region. This was, however, mainly through court decisions which declared gubernatorial victories for the ACN's Rauf Aregbesola and Kayode Fayemi in Osun and Ekiti States, respectively.

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© 2011 Menas Associates