In 2015, noroom was created to interrogate the conduct of the presidential
election inwhich an incumbent president kissed the dust. Both the process
and outcomeescaped obligatory queries and essential indictments. Had the
process andoutcome been subjected to painstaking reviews, especially at
the court,perhaps, the political and governance arrangements would have
been differentfrom what they are today.
But through hishistoric phone call to the opposition candidate, Muhammadu
Buhari of the AllProgressives Congress (APC), to concede defeat even
before the announcement ofthe presidential poll results by the Independent
National Electoral Commission(INEC), former President Goodluck Jonathan
and candidate of the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) had responsively and
responsibly narrowed the options byfoisting a fait accompli on his party
leaders and members.
By congratulatingBuhari on his victory at the poll, what Jonathan did was
to appropriate thepowers to unilaterally reach a crucial political
decision of foreclosing theventilation of his angst through an election
petition. The circumstantialpressures under which Jonathan operated as
president might have informed hissagacious decision to pull the
unprecedented political surprise.
Having suffereda historic betrayal that had culminated in his defeat in
spite of hisincumbency power, his action had since turned out to
beennobling. And, to envisage that the humiliation had become
writ-largein the demystification of the most powerful presidency on the
African continentwas enough to encourage a redemptive action.
Certainly,Jonathan’s gratuitous gesture was not only self-redeeming, but
alsoimage-boosting for Nigeria. It provided a new pedestal on which our
nation andpolitical leadership began to enjoy global consideration and
rave reviews.Nigeria, understandably, became a positive reference point in
the chancy matterof presidential power transfers on the continent.
In projectinghis individuality as one who was not power-drunk, it is now
very clear that theaction had nothing to do with the much-needed cultural
rebirth or attitudinalchange at the centre of politicking. Rather, it was
a case of a rarepersonality defining his eon in the quirky context of the
nation’scloak-and-dagger politics.
Jonathan sawthe moment and seized it. Today, while he relishes the
localplaudits and global adulation, there is a systemic contradiction and
rupture ofa neo-political culture that is largely rooted in the providence
of one man butwhich is fleetingly romanticized and referenced by
pretenders through mereverbal exhortations.
Honestly, howmany political leaders can replicate Jonathan’s selflessness?
Just who can takeup the gauntlet to seamlessly abdicate power? With all
the influence,connections and recognition that power brings, it is always
difficult to stepdown from it. Jonathan hurriedly did and saved himself
and Nigerians the painsand odium of entanglement at a crossroads.
I can thereforeunderstand the reason there have been calls from some
quarters, urging thecandidate of the opposition PDP, in the February 23
presidential election,Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to congratulate the winner
and incumbent PresidentBuhari. But the two scenarios are evidently
dissimilar. In the same vein, thecharacters and their vital motivations
are different from the Jonathan exemplar.
Significantly,there was absence of absolute good faith in the processes
that presaged the 2019election, which mischief the National Peace
Committee headed by GeneralAbdulsalami Abubakar had tried to cure with the
instrumentality of itsMemorandum of Understanding (MoU) that underpinned
the celebrated peace accordand commitment by the candidates to accept the
outcome of the poll as ithappened in 2015.
On differentoccasions, when the question was posed, while Buhari did not
indicate that hewould accept defeat, deflecting the question and insisting
that he enjoyedcountrywide support, Atiku had said that he would accept
the outcome with acaveat or proviso that the process must be free and
fair.
The electionhad been held. Buhari is the president-elect. Questions have
been raised aboutthe freeness, fairness and credibility of the election.
The authenticity of thepresidential mandate is being discounted. But as
much as I see Buhari as a manof immense financial integrity, I am
disconsolate that the legitimacy of hismandate is being related with in
terms of degrees of credibility. Whereas, in2015, partisans and
non-partisans celebrated his pan-Nigeria mandate, whichintegrity Jonathan
helped to bolster by his acceptance of defeat, the outlook
presentlyappears different.
Atiku hasrefused to call to congratulate Buhari. He has served notice of
his intentionto challenge the outcome of the poll in court. The rite of
passage by which thevictory should have been conclusively appropriated has
become dilatory and willremain so unless men of goodwill quickly and
productively intervene to compelAtiku to rethink his avowed plan.
Buhari’s assurances to run an inclusive government and hischarge to his
party men and women not to gloat or deride the opposition incelebration of
his victory are good grounds on which to encourage politicalaccommodation
in the national interest.
The ball is inthe court of Buhari and Atiku to pursue the path of
politicalrapprochement. But then bothare custodians of the people’s
mandate-one confirmed while the other isallegedly stolen. In 2015,through
the sagacity of one man who shunned the path of dissonance even whenhis
party men and women wanted him to do otherwise, the nation was saved from
tension.
Now, there seemto be pent-up anger and anxiety, especially in Southern
Nigeria, which isAtiku’s stronghold. The people are angry at the way the
electoral processtransmogrified into a bloody battle, especially in
Rivers, Bayelsa and LagosStates. Atiku would be justified to listen to his
followers whose votes inRivers, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Anambra and Delta States
were allegedly marked down.But then, the national interest is more
important than the interest of hissupporters.
This is Atiku’sdefining moment. Certainly, the entire country is at a
crossroads. Thetruth is that we are all in a quandary as to what future
lies ahead in terms ofkeeping fidelity with a promise of free, fair and
credible elections by futuregovernments. A situation in which a sitting
government uses foul means tosecure victory, knowing full well that
Nigerians would always appeal to theopposition candidates to accept defeat
in the national interest, looms. Thatwill upend the utilitarian value of
the Jonathan exemplar wherein oppositionscan no longer unseat incumbent
presidents.
Significantly,beyond the magnitude of Jonathan’s character of selflessness
is the screamingdearth of political leaders with that similitude. There is
also the yearninggap in the building of strong institutions that will
strengthen the integrityof the process and rein in disparate and desperate
political leaders as well asincumbent executive heads who try to deploy
the institutions in the realisationof parochial, partisan agenda.
Therefore,while it may seem patently unfair to either force Atiku to go to
court ormollycoddle him not to, it is agreeable that going to court is a
much betteroption than causing mayhem and making the country ungovernable.
Legal challengeis the right of Atiku to undertake. It reinforces our
constitutional democracyand, therefore, does not detract from the footing
and traction of the Buhariadministration in pursuit of good governance.
With anavalanche of national and international congratulatory and goodwill
messagesfrom which to harvest and deploy in boosting its momentum and
morale, theBuhari administration could borrow a leaf from the
administration of the latePresident Umaru Yar’Adua, which in response to
the 2007 massively-rigged presidentialpoll that produced it, pursued a
comprehensive electoral reform.
While thenation awaits the crystallization of the decisive and final
direction to go by Atikuand his PDP, I join the growing list of
well-wishers to congratulate the president-electand urge him, in the
intervening period, to ignite the turbo-charged engine ofhis government
and hit the road, not just running, but speeding to the nextlevel in the
making of a better Nigeria. Reasonable expectation!
· Ojeifo, an Abuja-basedjournalist, sent this piece
via ojwonderngr@yahoo.com
Sufuyan OjeifoEditor- in- ChiefThe Congresswatch Magazine+234 8034727013
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