Buhari win brings joy to Boko Haram-ravaged north

By Olarewaju Kola, Ogbodo Ndidi, Muhammad Tijjani and Wasilat Ahmad

MAIDUGURI/KANO/BAUCHI, Nigeria 

Celebrations have swept across Nigeria's restive north, the epicenter of the six-year Boko Haram insurgency, following the election this week of Muhammadu Buhari as president.

"I'm happy because my vote counted. We won," Mohammad Kachalla, a textile trader in Maiduguri, the provincial capital of Borno State, the birthplace of Boko Haram, told The Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

He has not opened his shop since Saturday, Election Day, to allow his five-man staff to go to the polls.

"When they returned yesterday morning, I told them to take a break to pray for Buhari's victory," Kachalla said.

"God has answered us and I added two days holiday for my workers," he added jubilantly. "I also gave them pocket money."

The Independent National Election Commission (INEC) has officially declared Buhari, the candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner of Saturday's poll.

He won 15,424,921 votes out of a total of 28,587,564 valid ballots cast, while incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan – his main electoral rival – won 12,853,162.

Buhari won 21 states, while Jonathan won 15 states and capital Abuja.

He won 473,543 votes in Borno State, against a meager 25,640 for Jonathan.

"This is the first time I voted and my choice was victorious," Hajara Usman told AA on the streets of Maiduguri.

"Buhari will change the situation. Corruption will be reduced and he will stop Boko Haram from killing our people," Usman said optimistically.

Convoys of trucks and four-wheel-drive vehicles carrying thousands of people drove through Boko Haram's heartland on Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, according to an AA reporter in Maiduguri.

Hundreds of youths enjoyed free drinks and juice provided by Buhari supporters, shouting that "the end has come" for Boko Haram.

"Mai Gaskisya ['the honest man'] has come, Allah Akbar ['God is great'], God is mightier than big politicians," they chanted in unison.

Some youths drove around Maiduguri with loudspeakers, singing victory songs for Buhari in local languages.

Others carried placards bearing slogans, such as "Sai Buhari; No more Boko Haram; No more corruption!"

Buhari, a Hausa Fulani Sunni Muslim from the northwestern Katsina State, is revered by most Nigerians for his track record, with no taint of fraud or corruption directly linked to him or his family.

On top of this, many people respect his Spartan lifestyle and personal discipline as an elder statesman.

He is admired for turning down the perks accorded to past rulers of Nigeria, reportedly asking the Finance Ministry to cut his monthly pay as a former military ruler.

Known for his fierce criticism of the Boko Haram insurgency, Buhari was targeted in 2014 in what the militant group described as an assassination attempt.

Nigeria is fighting a six-year Boko Haram insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced over one million people from the country's northeast, where the militants have been the most ruthless.

The military recently announced that all territory earlier captured by the insurgents in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states had all since been "liberated" by the army.

-Democracy wins-

In Nigeria's northern Kano State, tens of thousands of APC supporters poured into the streets on Wednesday chanting "Alihamdulillah" ["Thank God"] and hailing the sudden change of leadership – the first time since 1999 – from Jonathan's ruling PDP to the opposition.

Celebrants, who included women and young people dressed in Nigeria's green-white-green national colors, marched the streets of Kano, the provincial capital, celebrating Buhari's victory in a long motorcade.

The motorcade entertained onlookers with life-threatening displays as they expressed their joy and showed their love for their fellow Nigerians, according to an AA reporter in Kano.

Brandishing brooms, the symbol of the APC, they assembled at the gates of Kano's government house, singing and dancing.

Others were seen distributing drinks and food as part of the celebration.

"Buhari's victory is a pan-Nigerian mandate. We expect him to restore confidence in the polity and ensure security of life and property," Naba Mai'ilimi, a vegetable seller in Kano, told AA.

Sabon Gari, a predominantly Christian area of Kano, was not left out of the celebration, as young people played popular Nigerian tunes from loudspeakers.

Kano APC youth leader Abdulmalik Danbilki Kwamanda, who was caught up in the frenzy, described Buhari's victory as "a victory for the Nigerian project."

He admitted that popular expectations for the incoming administration were high, and called on Nigerians to keep Buhari in their prayers. 

"At the moment, Gen. Buhari needs our support more than ever to be able to achieve his pre-election promises," Kwamanda said. 

Ahmed Soron Dinki, a human rights activist, lauded the courage of APC members for their efforts to change the country's political landscape.

"I believe Nigerians are mature enough politically now," he told AA.

Dinki also thanked Jonathan for conceding defeat and congratulating the winner.

He said Buhari's victory was a clear indication that democracy had come to stay in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.

Similar scenes of jubilation were seen in Bauchi, another state in northern Nigeria that had seen few militant attacks in the run-up to elections.

Thousands of people took to the streets in provincial capital Bauchi on motorcycles and in cars, brining traffic to a standstill.

Chanting "Sai Buhari, Sai Baba," which literally means "All hail Buhari; All hail the father of all," many of them carried posters of Buhari and his vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo, who is a Christian.

Isa Baba, a local resident, expressed joy over Buhari's electoral victory.

"We are happy for the outcome of the election, which ended in a peaceful way," he told AA. "We thank the INEC for conducting a credible election."

Nasiru Abdullahi, another local resident, echoed these sentiments.

"We are celebrating because of the outcome of the elections," Abdullahi told AA.

He added: "Now we expect the new president to tackle youth unemployment, poverty and insecurity, all of which have bedeviled the country's northeast."