Winning elections in Nigeria is an art as much as it is a game. What differentiates a successful candidate from an unsuccessful one are the people you choose to run your campaign – something the current President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, can attest to. The difference between his first three times and his 2015 win was a change in strategy by his campaign managers.
The Story:
General Muhammadu Buhari had tried three times before and failed woefully. The world deemed it impossible for this retired general to work his way up from a mere cult following in one region to national acceptance by an evolved generation of politically aware Nigerians.
Employing the services of StateCraft Inc., his campaign was expertly guided away from its usual shortfalls towards a resounding success at the polls and into the Presidential Villa with record-breaking acceptance from the same populace that had despised him only 12-months prior.
Working with a strict calendar, StateCraft Inc. implemented the strategy by developing a resonant messaging that evolved into a political slogan and disseminating targeted information through only valuable channels.
Without interrupting the established campaign schedule of rallies and stakeholder engagement, they carried the newer audiences along with the established order where possible and brought General Buhari into the digital realm where the younger voting population were domiciled. The result of the approach was a campaign so inclusive that it gave the citizens a taste of what representation within a Buhari administration would look like.
Finally, StateCraft Inc. engineered an issue-based campaign that rose above the incumbent’s mudslinging to challenge the ruling party on issues they identified as the voting population’s pain points.
This campaign strategy led to General Buhari becoming the President-elect on Tuesday, 31 March 2015, defeating an incumbent whose party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), had ruled the country for 16 consecutive years. This was a victory not just for the retired military leader but for his political party as well. He also acquired a historic win by 2,563,059 votes which the incumbent could not help but concede even as the final vote counts still trickled in.
Beyond these, there was an overwhelming goodwill of all Nigerians, as StateCraft Inc. campaign strategy saw to it that the candidate traversed the length of breadth of Nigeria canvassing for votes from everyday people – a reputational transformation from a despotic ruler to a reformed democrat.
Your current reputation notwithstanding, with the right people in your corner handling the intricate details of your political career, winning elections in Nigeria is a walkover.
