When Orubebe took to the floor to disrupt proceedings at the Collation centre, I feared for the worst. Just imagine what would have happened if one or two of the security men had forcefully tried to remove him. He would have fought them off, the other PDP agents would have come to his defense and the police would have been called in to remove everyone using teargas.
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That would have been the end of it. In the ensuing melee, the result sheets would have disappeared and all hell would have broke loose.
State of emergency would have been declared and we would be talking about elections in two years time or more depending on how subsequent events panned out.
I don't even want to imagine the pogroms that would have ensued? In 1962, the case of disruption of proceedings in the Western Region House of Assembly led to the state of emergency which led to the January 1966 coup and this lead to the northern counter-coup and eventually the tragic civil war.
Godsday Orubebe nearly threw Nigeria into such a turmoil again but President Goodluck Jonathan averted it.
What transpired in the Presidential Villa was this: when the outcome of the election began to turn against President Goodluck Jonathan, many Hawks in government and in PDP started pressurizing him to step in and turn the tide via manipulation and State power. He refused.
I know someone who knelt down with tearful eyes asking him to act like an African President and jettison this European idea of gentlemanism. PGEJ refused to intervene.
When President Jonathan's attention was drawn to what Orubebe was doing on TV, he quickly asked one of his aide to get him General Buhari immediately on the phone. Contrary to reports that GEJ was watching the programme, the man left others to watch it and went to sleep. The trending picture of him with Abdusalami purportedly watching the event is a big hoax. That picture was taken during the peace-accord drive of Gen. Abdulsalami before the election.
President Jonathan quickly called Gen. Buhari to congratulate him even before the collation officially ended because he wanted to pull the sail on the antics of his Hawkish supporters. If he hadn't done that they would have used his influence to do something foolish. It was Okonjo Iweala that called President Jonathan to intimate him of Orubebe's actions.
I have been battling tears ever since I learnt what happened. If only Nigerians knew that many Hawkish PDP stalwart and top government officers stormed out angrily on this humble President when they learnt he had called Gen. Buhari to concede defeat, claiming that he betrayed them. One Northern ally of his even called him weak. That call was what saved the day. Orubebe was told of the call and he quietly walked away, allowing collation proceedings to continue.
GEJ made that call to Buhari around 16:15 hours.
Only the Doves remained with President Jonathan. Many of the Hawks are still not speaking to him even now.
General Abdulsalami and other African Statesmen were still pondering how to douse the expected mayhem and they placed a call to Gen. Buhari to plead with him to restrain his supporters and to tell him they were preparing to go and meet President Jonathan to call his Hawkish associates to order when Gen. Buhari told them not to bother that PGEJ has already called him and conceded defeat. Everyone was stunned beyond word.
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