The Result

Welcome April!

Another month passes by and a few days..I mean about two  weeks passed without any new topic posted in the blog. What else can we talk about, the election of course!

But the timing couldn't just be more perfect for a holiday since it will be the children's spring break and Easter holidays. We are heading to Amsterdam this time. The capital city of weed and Red Light District!... I mean the Netherlands. Madam has been there a few times as her office's HQ is in Amersfoort.

Heading towards the airport

Danfo (to Ogun state, maybe)

Anyway, we left for Amsterdam on the 26th March, short of 2 days to the Presidential Election on KLM. A 'short' 7 hour flight and must be the most monotonous flight for the pilots as it was just a straight line from MMIA (Murtala Mohamad International Airport), Lagos to Schipol, Amsterdam. I can almost imagine the Captain's FB status "mijn god! another Neverland flight...second star to the right and straight till morning!". Airbus A330 aircraft, if anyone's interested to know what sort of bird we flew in.

Straight line...and right turn

KLM 0588 to Schipol, then off to Paris

7 Hours later, we arrived at Schipol at 5.30am which is in the same time zone as Lagos. Took a train to Zaandam where were booked a hotel in advance and since it was still early to check into the room, we decided to tour Amsterdam...to get to know the city and how to go about all the museums and other places of 'attractions'.

Train route, Schipol to Zaandam

Amsterdam Centraal Station

Amsterdam Centraal Station, another POV

sometimes it's easy to translate... North-South Holland Coffee House... sometimes..hahahaha. Also Tourist Information Centre (VVV). Attached to IAMSTERDAM card centre and GVB (tram, metro and bus) ticketing centre

eating...fries

cheese store along the main road

In Amsterdam, bicycles rule!

Then..oh this is priceless...power outage! NEPA! All over North Holland (will explain in another posting) and Amsterdam especially. No train moves in or out of the Amsterdam Centraal Station. Trams were out too. Our choice was either to go back by bus, taxi or boat. Here, I could see Madam's leadership quality that I had witnessed since our uni days...Stingy. I rate her A+. We could just take the bus to the hotel, but NOOOOO...we already bought a return ticket for the train..we should wait. We waited at the stairs leading to the platform hour after hour. 4 hours in total. 'Tq' Madam!

Double decker Inter City (stop at certain station marked IC along the route map) and Sprinter (stop at every station) train

 An ad on Kuala Lumpur, only 450Euro

eating, again...pizza this time

On the Sprinter to Zaandam

Zaandam! Just 2 stops away
from Amsterdam Centraal

Adjacent to the Zaandam Station is the
Stadhuis or City Hall. Ground floor of the City Hall is the bus terminal....convenient

The next day, 28th March - Dday Nigeria. Of the total 175million population, 60million are registered voters with PVC card (refer previous entry). How many would come out to vote is anyone's guess, but we hope there will be a huge turnout.

The Malaysian High Comm WApped us, keeping in touch with all Malaysian in Nigeria or abroad. We received some info regarding the election situation. There were some issues regarding the PVC and thumb print machine. Even VVIP like Goodluck Jonathan was not spared! 15 minutes at the polling station still unable to vote as the machine didn't recognize him thus not allowing him to vote. Some polling station even started late, as late as 3pm due to faulty machines.

Drama whole day... the Election Commission gave out statement that the election will continue again tomorrow for the remainder of voters whom did not manage to carry out their rights to vote on Saturday.

A pic of a rhino sent to us thru WA from our friend,
Marijke holidaying in South Africa

Madam received WA from her colleagues all over Nigeria. Every time reminding everyone to be safe and not to involve in anything that is harmful to self and others. Her message was simple, GO OUT - VOTE - GO HOME. In the hotel room, we scoured the news tv channel for any news regarding the election and also the result. But we do have our online and up to date result too. As predicted, it was a neck to neck race.

The result, we received as follows:

PDP- APC: 4-9

PDP - APC: 5-10

PDP - APC: 10-12

PDP - APC: 11-13

PDP - APC: 12-13

PDP - APC: 13-13 !!!

PDP - APC: 13-14

PDP - APC: 13-18

I think there were other updates regarding the election but suffice to say that, PDP threw in the towel when outgoing President, Goodluck Jonathan telephoned Muhammadu Buhari to congratulate him and APC for winning the election. It was the first ever the government was unseated democratically thru election, of course.

The newly elected President gave his inaugural speech to the nation and set his target on eradicating Boko Haram and corruption. A tall order but we'll see how he performs. A very short honeymoon period for the President is expected and it was reported on every news channel. Nigerian wants change, and they want it NOW.