A young positivist writes: "Voice From Afar"

I was pondering the question of how I should give a title to this article as I followed with interest the elections that took place in Nigeria on February 23, 2019. One wonders why a Ghanaian would be worried about it. 39 write an election that has no effect on him?

This person may be right to think this, but if you think critically, you will also agree with the author that it is a good opportunity to make his point of view known on the topic being addressed. After some time of reflection, I settled on a title that is subtitled "VOICE FROM AFAR". In this, I wanted to give some historical political incidents between Ghana and Nigeria and the recent elections that saw President Buhari retain power.

In April 2013, I had the privilege of traveling to Nigeria and undertook a mission to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Previously, my family was afraid of Nigeria because, during this time, the insurgencies of Boko Haram were unleashed. The constant killing of some Nigerian civilians is really frightening. At second thought, they were convinced that I was engaging in God's service and, as such, had to be confident and fearless.

Most of these murders took place in the north of the country. I traveled to eastern Nigeria and I must say that the place was peaceful. Some Ghanaians have the misperception that Nigeria is a tumultuous place and therefore not conducive to life. On the contrary, I must admit that these perceptions that some Ghanaians observe from a distance are not true and that Nigeria is a peaceful country in the same way as Ghana. They are also hospitable and charitable. Anyone who has ever lived in Nigeria can not be less in agreement. Allow me to pause and move on to the substantive issue. My two years of experience in Nigeria will be told at another time.

Nigeria is a very large country and it is the most populous country in Africa. It has a population of about two hundred million. Nigeria operates the federal system of government and has 36 states, including the federal capital, Abuja, which makes 37 states. Their seat of government is in Abuja, popularly known as the Aso Rock Presidential Villa. It is endowed with natural resources such as gold, salt, coal and oil. It produces Africa's largest oil on the world market. According to https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/101515/biggest-oil-producers-africa.asp, Nigeria produced over 2.4 million barrels of oil per day in 2014, making it the 13th largest oil producer in the world. The country has produced between 2.1 and 2.6 million barrels a day over the past 18 years.

Ghana was subjected to a constitutional rule in 1992 after spending so much time in the military regime. The 1992 constitution introduced Ghana into the fourth republic under the leadership of the former president Jerry John Rawlings who had headed Ghana from 1981 to 1992 before entering a civilian regime. He stood on the ticket of his party; the national democratic congress (NDC) in the 1992 general election and won

He defeated the eminent Professor Albert Adu Boahene, of the new patriotic party (Nuclear plant). He successfully completed both terms and was handed over to his successor, the former president John Agyekum Kufuor. Surprisingly, Nigeria is also under its fourth republic after sinking under military rule for several years. After the death of the military dictator and de facto leader of Nigeria, General Sani Abacha in 1998, his successor General Abdusalami Abubakar the transition that announced the return of Nigeria to a democratic regime in 1999.

The ban on political activities was lifted and political prisoners were released from places of detention. In the widely guarded elections of 1999, former military leader Olusegun Obasanjo was elected to the Democratic People's Party. (PDP). On May 29, 1999, Obasanjo was sworn in as President and Commander in Chief of Federal Republic of Nigeria. Can you see a similar historical political incident between Ghana and Nigeria?

Olusegun Obasanjo served his two terms successfully and handed over to his successor, Umaru Musa Yar 'Adua in 2007. It must be said that Obasanjo and Yar 'Adua both belong to the same political party, the People's Democratic Party. (PDP). This means that after their return to the constitutional rule, power alternated within a party. This is slightly different from the case of Ghana. In Ghana, power has been alternated between the National Democratic Congress and the (NDC) and the new patriotic party (MPN) under the fourth republic.

His excellence John Agyekum Kufuor's the term ended on January 7, 2009 and was presented to His Excellency John Evans Atta Mills of NDC. In this case, the current alternated from the nuclear power station to the NDC. John Evans Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama took charge of the state's affairs from January 7, 2009 to July 24, 2012. Unfortunately, John Evans Atta Mills died on July 24, 2012 after being beaten with an illness a few months before the general election of 2012. For this reason, the Vice President of the time John Dramani Mahama was sworn in by the chief justice of the time, Her Ladyship Georgina Wood. John Mahama named Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur as vice president. Amissah-Arthur appeared before Parliament's Nominating Committee for approval and was subsequently approved by the House. John Mahama was Ghana's goalkeeper from July 24, 2012 to January 6, 2013. He was standing on the ticket of the NDC in the 2012 general election and was able to win them after his victory was challenged by the Nuclear plant in clbad. Let's move to Nigeria and witness a similar political incident at that time. After the disappearance of Umaru Musa Yar 'Adua, his vice, Goodluck Jonathan took the helm from May 5, 2010 to May 29, 2011. Prior to the 2011 general election in Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan stood on the ticket of the Democratic People's Party (PDP) and was able to deliver the victory for his party. John Mahama and Goodluck Jonathan were very good friends when they were president of their respectful countries. The cordial relationship that existed between Ghana and Nigeria during their administration was astonishing.

In 2015, Goodluck Jonathan was seeking re-election to allow him to serve his second term. During this period, some smaller political parties also came together to try to overthrow the president and the president. PDP who have won every election since 1999. After successfully merging, they elected Mohammadu Buhari to be their flag bearer. The 2015 general election in Nigeria was fierce between President Goodluck Jonathan of PDP and Mohammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress (APC). The Nigerian elections of 2015 posed many challenges. Among them are the issue of Boko Haram and kidnappings. The energy crisis was another challenge that hit the Goodluck administration. Not to mention the issues related to corruption. These were some of the key questions that the opposition APC capitalized on to campaign against the government. Sadly, Goodluck Jonathan lost to Buhari and could not get his second term.

In a related development in Ghana, the incumbent John Mahama was looking for his second term but was losing heavily to the NPP. The general election of 2016 was one of the most disputed elections ever held in Ghana under the Fourth Republic. John Mahama was seeking his second term while Nana Addo He was also in the running for the third time. In addition, the NPP had spent eight years in opposition. These and many other elections contributed to a successful election in 2016. Prior to the 2016 general election, the NDC government faced many challenges. Some of them were economic hardships, corruption, high unemployment, high cost of living and the electricity crisis, commonly called energy crisis. "DUMSOR" meaning "Turn on and turn on". L & # 39; opposition Nuclear plant at the time, took advantage of these problems and campaigned vehemently. Despite the troubling situations, many Ghanaians also felt that the NPP had good policies in relation to the NDC and when voted in power, it will relieve the lot of Ghanaians. Some of his policies were; Free high school policy, one district, one factory, one village, one dam, one million dollars per riding and many more. It must be said that the administration of John Mahama had behaved very well in terms of infrastructures. The construction of community day schools for graduate schools has been very encouraging and the construction of some hospitals and some roads.

After a peaceful vote on December 7, 2016, the Commissioner of Elections began collecting the results and on December 9, 2016, Mrs. Charlotte Osei the president at the time, said Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo as president-elect of the Republic of Ghana, defeating his closest rival John Dramani Mahama. It meant that John Mahama also Goodluck Jonathan Nigeria could not fulfill its second term.

The interesting part of the situation was that John Mahama and Goodluck Jonathan were both in their fifties (50 years) when they were seeking re-election. While Buhari and Akufo Addo were also seventy (70 years old), they contested the presidency.

President Buhari faced with some health problems while traveling outside Nigeria most of the time for treatment. At one point, he asked his Vice President His Excellency Yemi Osinbajo badume the duties of Acting President until he is recovering from his illness. Many Nigerians have criticized him for this, especially when he showed himself interested in running for re-election again. These criticisms of citizens did not disturb it.

Elections in Nigeria were scheduled to take place on February 16, 2019, but the Independent Electoral Commission (theINEC) President Teacher. Mahmood Yakubu, announced that the elections can not take place because of logistical problems. He attributed this challenge to the bad weather that made it impossible to transfer logistics to certain areas. It was very bad for Nigerian democracy. No wonder the apathy that greeted the February 23, 2019 election was very disturbing and voter turnout was less than 40 percent.

This time, President Buhari had to face a person from the north and Muslim. So, in terms of religion and ethnicity, there was nothing to say. Unlike 2015, when they campaigned on religion and ethnicity, he had to challenge this time with the former vice president of Nigeria. Atiku Abubakar who stood on the ticket of the PDP. At this time, Atiku could not compete with President Buhari, who had beaten his rival over three million votes.

The results would have been different if the elections had taken place on the scheduled date. The margin would have been wider, or the opposition would have won, but these are some badumptions of the author. In addition, the Nigerian people knew better and made their choice. In any case, if the opposition members were ready to win, they would have done everything in their power to gather more votes and ensure their victory.

On February 23, 2019, as Nigerians voted for the election of their president, the opposition NDC in Ghana also convened the congress of its delegates to vote for their presidential candidate who would lead them to the elections General Delegations of 2020. Delegates voted overwhelmingly for the former president John Mahama to lead them to the 2020 election. Are you surprised to see his name again? According to him, he wants to re-direct the country and correct some mistakes that he made when he was president. As to whether the presidency is a means of rectification, only time will tell. We are not told whether President Nana Addo will lead the NPP in the 2020 general election. For now, we are right to badume that Mahama and Nana Addo will fight again by 2020.

Former Deputy Secretary General of the NDC Mr. Koku Anyidoho said, "History has an interesting way of repeating itself." Will the story repeat itself? Will it be Nana Addo and Buhari who will continue the political history between Ghana and Nigeria that has unfolded simultaneously in recent years? Or will John Mahama break this story? We live to see! Time will be the best judge. The healthy relations between Ghana and Nigeria must be maintained and deepened. Long live Nigeria, long live Ghana. Ghana needs to work again. Ghana will work again. YOUNG POSITIVIST, concerned citizen of Ghana.

The writer is Boamah Sampson, a final year student at the University of Ghana, studying English and ^{policy Science (0548690091 /[email protected]).}