12 Prominent Nigerians Who Have Refused To Congratulate Buhari ( see )

Madailygist  profiles twelve individuals and groups that have refused to congratulate the president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, on his election victory. Will they be in trouble when Buhari finally becomes president??

 1. Professor Wole Soyinka: Nigeria’s only Nobel laureate is a major critic of the Jonathan administration, especially the handling of the Rivers state crisis that nearly swept off his favoured son, Amaechi, and the handling of the Chibok girls saga. His opinions are highly sought after in Nigeria and beyond and many believe that his disdain for the PDP helped sway the south-west (especially the young and intellectuals) vote against President Jonathan.

2. Ernest Shonekan: The former head of the interim government of Nigeria in 1993. He is believed to be a supporter of the incumbent President Jonathan and has never missed any high government function since Jonathan became president.

3. Mike Adenuga: The chairman of telecommunication outfit Globacom and one of Nigeria’s richest and out-of-public private citizens. He is a friend of the Jonathan government and as such was appointed as co-chairman by Jonathan in 2012 to head the flood committee.

4. South-South PDP Governors: They are governors Liyel Imoke( Cross River), Godswill Akpabio( Akwa Ibom), Seriake Dickson( Bayelsa state), Emmanuel Uduaghan( Delta state) and govenor-elect Nyesom Wike (Rivers state – considered to be a nightmare to incumbent governor, Rotimi Amaechi and the APC). They are major financiers and gave Jonathan a bloc-vote during the 2011 and 2015 presidential elections. Rivers state gave the incumbent president over 1.4million votes to emerge highest from the region.. South-East PDP Governors: Abia – Theodore Orji, Ebonyi – Martin Elechi, Enugu – Sullivan Chime; they tried to replicate the 2011 magic but I guess something happened along the way. Nonetheless, Jonathan secured victory convincingly in the zone but could not win nationally in 2015 as he did in 2011. The highest the Otuoke -born president secured from this zone was 500,000+ in Enugu state.

6. Alex Ekwueme: The former Nigerian vice president under Shehu Shagari and a prominent member of those who formed the PDP in 1998. He complained sometime ago of being marginalized in the mainstream PDP by the Jonathan administration before Jonathan visited his state for the PDP presidential campaign.

7. Shehu Shagari: With the waning strength of his 80 plus years, the former president Shagari is an ardent supporter of the PDP from the  OBJ days to Yar’Adua. He benefitted to the extent of making his son a minister and then a deputy governor in 2007-2015. President Jonathan is believed to have so much respect for this revered elder statesman and recently joined former Nigerian leaders to celebrate his birthday in Sokoto.

8. Ibrahim Babangida: Nicknamed the ‘Nigerian Maradona.’ He ousted the president-elect, Buhari and took over power in 1985 and later went on to annul the 1993 presidential election won by the late MKO Abiola. Many believe that Buhari still begrudges IBB for his ouster and not allowing him to bury his late mum. He once sought for the PDP ticket in 2011 with Jonathan alongside former the vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the former national security adviser  and current defence minister, Aliyu Gusau. He is still a PDP card-carrying member and preferred Jonathan to Buhai in the 2015 elections.

8. Ibrahim Babangida: Nicknamed the ‘Nigerian Maradona.’ He ousted the president-elect, Buhari and took over power in 1985 and later went on to annul the 1993 presidential election won by the late MKO Abiola. Many believe that Buhari still begrudges IBB for his ouster and not allowing him to bury his late mum. He once sought for the PDP ticket in 2011 with Jonathan alongside former the vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the former national security adviser  and current defence minister, Aliyu Gusau. He is still a PDP card-carrying member and preferred Jonathan to Buhai in the 2015 elections.

10. Innocent Chukwuma: The Anambra-born entrepreneur cum billionaire is a fine protagonist of the Jonathan administration. He is a major beneficiary of the current president’s auto policy on home-made vehicles and manufacturing in Nigeria. Innocent is the first indigenous vehicle manufacturing businessman in the country. He manufactures SUVs, pick-up trucks as well as patrol vans for the Nigerian police force and the Federal Road Safety Corps. His company was said to have donated about 15 SUVs to the 2015 PDP presidential campaign.

11. South-West Obas: These monarchs are seen as very powerful in the region and they were seen to be more amenable to the Jonathan candidature than Buhari’s. On more than one occasion they openly supported President Jonathan ahead of the 2015 elections. Jonathan was said to have held meetings with all the power-broking monarchs in the region before the elections.

12. Northern states PDP governors: These are the governors of Kaduna, Kebbi, Jigawa, Bauchi, Niger, Benue, Adamawa, Katsina, Plateau, Taraba, Kogi and Gombe states. Of all these governors none was able to win even a local government area for the PDP save for Taraba, Plateau, Kaduna and Adamawa despite all the billions given to them during the presidential elections.

Meanwhile, the president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, has expressed concerns about the dilapidated economy of the country with just 21 days to his inauguration