Muhammadu Buhari Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==== 2011 presidential election ==== In March 2010, Buhari left the ANPP for the [[Congress for Progressive Change]] (CPC), a party he had helped to found. He said that he had supported foundation of the CPC "as a solution to the debilitating, ethical and ideological conflicts in my former party the ANPP".<ref name=Mamah20100318>{{cite web |url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201003180375.html |title=Buhari Joins Congress for Progressive Change |work=Vanguard |author=Emeka Mamah |date=18 March 2010 |access-date=22 April 2011 |archive-date=19 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019083100/http://allafrica.com/stories/201003180375.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Buhari was the CPC presidential candidate in the 2011 election, running against incumbent President [[Goodluck Jonathan]] of the [[People's Democratic Party (Nigeria)|People's Democratic Party]] (PDP), [[Mallam Nuhu Ribadu]] of [[Action Congress of Nigeria]] (ACN), and [[Ibrahim Shekarau]] of ANPP. They were the major contenders among 20 candidates.<ref name="INEC">{{cite web|title=Summary of the 2011 Presidential election results |url=http://www.inecnigeria.org/results/presidential/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110529123316/http://www.inecnigeria.org/results/presidential/ |archive-date=29 May 2011 }}</ref> Buhari campaigned on an anti-corruption platform and pledged to remove immunity protections from government officials. He also gave support to enforcement of [[Sharia law]] in Nigeria's northern states, which had previously caused him political difficulties among Christian voters in the country's south.<ref name="autogenerated422"/> The elections were marred by widespread sectarian violence, which claimed the lives of 800 people across the country, as Buhari's supporters attacked Christian settlements in the country's central region.<ref name="cfr">{{cite web|url = http://blogs.cfr.org/campbell/2014/12/12/nigerian-religious-leaders-advise-political-candidates/|title = Nigerian Religious Leaders Advise Political Candidates|date = 12 December 2014|website = cfr.org|access-date = 19 January 2015|archive-date = 13 January 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150113121021/http://blogs.cfr.org/campbell/2014/12/12/nigerian-religious-leaders-advise-political-candidates/|url-status = live}}</ref> The three-day uprising was blamed in part on Buhari's inflammatory comments.<ref name="cfr" /> In spite of assurances from Human Rights Watch, which had judged the elections "among the fairest in Nigeria's history", Buhari claimed that the vote was flawed and warned<ref name="cfr" /> that "If what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Soyombo|first1=Fisayo|title=Opinion Will Muhammadu Buhari be Nigeria's next president?|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/12/will-muhammadu-buhari-be-niger-2014123191647111939.html|website=aljazeera.com|access-date=19 January 2015|date=31 December 2014|quote=In 2011, Buhari was accused of inciting the violence that followed his loss to Jonathan. The following year, he said "the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood" should the 2015 election be rigged. Buhari has shed blood before for his presidential ambition, some people believe. And they think he would do it again. Such a man, they reason, should never taste power.|archive-date=11 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111054340/http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/12/will-muhammadu-buhari-be-niger-2014123191647111939.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Ndujihe|first1=Clifford|last2=Idonor|first2=Daniel|title=Post-election violence: FG panel report indicts Buhari|url=http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/post-election-violence-fg-panel-report-indicts-buhari/|website=vanguardngr.com|access-date=19 January 2015|date=11 October 2011|archive-date=19 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119225955/http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/post-election-violence-fg-panel-report-indicts-buhari/|url-status=live}}</ref> Buhari remained a "folk hero" to some for his vocal opposition to corruption.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.naij.com/306026-buharis-presidential-attempts-and-2015-chances.html|title = Buhari's Presidential Attempts And 2015 Chances|date = November 2014|website = naij.com|access-date = 21 January 2015|archive-date = 13 November 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141113064255/http://www.naij.com/306026-buharis-presidential-attempts-and-2015-chances.html|url-status = live}}</ref> He won 12,214,853 votes, coming in second to Jonathan, who polled 22,495,187 votes and was declared the winner.<ref name="Next20110421">{{cite web |url=http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5691404-146/story.csp |title=Congress for Progressive Change considers going to court and Buhari declared that he will make Nigeria ungovernable for Jonathan. Since then the Boko Haram Sect has been bombing Nigerians |work=Next |author=Festus Owete |date=21 April 2011 |access-date=22 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095821/http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5691404-146/story.csp |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page