"The building housing the Christian Corpers’ Fellowship in Minna, Niger state was reportedly set on fire with the corpers locked inside and, but for the bravery of one of their leaders, these youths would have been incinerated. This is unacceptable. That was why I had suggested that the issue of religious freedom should be made a campaign issue. It wasn’t but it sure can be on top of a Christian charter of demands from the incoming government. It sure would be interesting to see how the judicial inquiry into the so-called post-election violence handles this hunchback problem."
Everyone deserves their moments in the sun. President Goodluck Jonathan sure deserves his, as congratulations poured in from across the globe on his election last Saturday, in one of the freest and fairest elections Nigeria has ever held. I join my voice to all others in congratulating him and, wishing him well, for all our sakes, as he prepares to begin his first full four-year term as helmsman.
Let me state upfront, as I love to do, that I was not at supporter of Candidate Jonathan, and so, did not vote for him. As I stated in this column before the elections, I did not find the four front-runners, namely, Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari, Nuhu Ribadu and Ibrahim Shekarau appealing. I believe, and still do, that the president-elect’s candidacy was opportunistic and built on the quicksand of violation of an agreement within his party to alternate the presidency every two terms between the north and the south of Nigeria. That, for me, betrays a lack of integrity at its most fundamental. I shall have cause to refer to this issue again, later in this piece.
I argued, among others, that Buhari has blood on his hands as a result of overzealousness during his brief stint as military head of state. Ribadu, I characterized as a Machiavellian operator who resorted to impunity in his zeal to win a just war against corruption, during his days as head of Economics and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
My candidate was Pat Utomi and he withdrew. I respect his decision which was hinged on the fact that he had spent the last two years or so working with other patriots, not for the sole purpose of becoming presidential candidate, but for the larger purpose of building a viable opposition to the party that had been in charge for twelve years without clearly unsatisfactory result. I found myself unable to accede to his request that his supporters vote for Shekarau, for the sole reason that I gave above.
I know you are wondering: Did I therefore, fail to vote? And the simple answer is, yes, I did vote. I voted for Nuhu Ribadu. I voted for him, not because I heard from God, as I promised I would try to and urged every one else in my space to do. I voted for Ribadu because in the few days preceding the election, he exhibited a level of humility and selflessness that is uncommon among politicians the world over. According to very reliable sources, he accepted to step down for CPC’s Buhari, in spite of the fact that governors from his party, ACN, and many of the younger ones in the party apparatchik, were rooting for him. That, for me, was the clincher; given my firm belief that “nations are not great by virtue of their wealth; nations are great by the wealth of their virtues. Selflessness and patriotism are virtues in very short supply in our national treasury.
But, all of that is by the way. Dr Goodluck Jonathan has been elected and it can be said that the dramatics of presentation of collated figures from the states, by university vice-chancellors (no less) and INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega himself punching away at the calculator in full view of a national, may be even international, television audience certainly lent credibility to the process. The significance of this can very easily be lost until you recall that four years ago, representatives of presidential contenders claimed that the then INEC boss and Returning Officer announced the victory of the late Umaru Yar’Adua with up to a third of collated returns from the states yet to be announced.
However, while the conclusion of the process was widely accepted as transparent, it is already public knowledge, that three of the opposition parties, CPC, ACN and FRESH, have rejected the results claiming that there were flaws at earlier stages of the process. Some observers have corroborated this, even as they seem to suggest that those flaws were not so widespread as to invalidate Dr Jonathan’s return.
There have been hints of calls for judicial review as provided for by the Electoral Act, which is the way it should be. Which is why the outbreak of violence shortly after the results is condemnable and has been so, roundly condemned by all persons of goodwill. As is usual in the northern part of our nation, adherents to faith in Jesus Christ once again bore part of the brunt, as churches were among properties razed down. The building housing the Christian Corpers’ Fellowship in Minna, Niger state was reportedly set on fire with the corpers locked inside and, but for the bravery of one of their leaders, these youths would have been incinerated. This is unacceptable. That was why I had suggested that the issue of religious freedom should be made a campaign issue. It wasn’t but it sure can be on top of a Christian charter of demands from the incoming government. It sure would be interesting to see how the judicial inquiry into the so-called post-election violence handles this hunchback problem.
Having said all this, let me make this “politically-incorrect” point. In spite of the rhetoric to the contrary, Nigeria is, at this moment, a deeply divided nation. And this is why. The political class had an agreement to alternate the presidency between the north and south of Nigeria at eight year intervals. It is blatant falsehood to hold otherwise. Was it a coincidence that all the leading political parties fielded northern candidates? The south had the first eight years. Three years into the north’s first eight years, circumstances presented the south with an opportunity to renege on the deal; they seized it. Many have since argued that it was God’s way of compensating the south for the northern domination of the pre-zoning agreement years. How true that is, time will tell. What I find very interesting about all this however is what happens between now and 2015. Will the Igbo nation, particularly the radical, separatist wing of it cede the presidency to the north in 2015? Or would the north have become sophisticated enough to let the south-east have it?
These are questions which, in the euphoria of the moment, most of us consider reactionary, retrogressive. Again, time will tell. But one thing is clear; Dr Jonathan will need all the lucks in the world to resolve the variety of thorny issues that his candidacy and victory have thrown up.
No comments:
Post a Comment