THE 2015 General election storm was expected to be rough. But the greatest fear was not before or during the turbulence; it was the anticipated after effects.
Many feared post-election violence. But a phone call conceding defeat and the general body language of out-going President Goodluck Jonathan saved many lives. He had often said nobody’s ambition was worth the blood of Nigerians. This was put to test, and we are the better for it as a country, and as
A few months ago, I had a discussion with one of the most committed apostles of the change doctrine. I wanted to understand what it really meant. We were both veterans of the Pro-democracy struggles of the 1990s and he was particularly helpful during the January 2012 anti-fuel price increase protests. He explained that for him, change was about two things; cutting arrogant PDP to size and instituting a culture of Nigerians changing government at will.
So change was an idea whose time had come, and no force could stop it. Given this, President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari was at the right place at the right time in Nigerian history just as Barrack Obama had been in the United States in 2008 when Americans demanded change. This is not to negate the fact that both men are dodged fighters who struggled against traditional odds and triumphed.
The ruling PDP had seemed quite impregnable. But the signs that it could lose this election had been visible long before now. One of them was the ability of opposition parties to unite.
This was the first time this was happening in our history. Another first, was that main stream politicians from North West and the West agreed to work together. Then there was the unprecedented breaking away of some governors from the ruling party to ally with the opposition. These were followed by the successful Presidential primaries of the APC.
Also, the APC overcame a disability; the Jonathan administration had a number of achievements to show case including the fact that not only had the rails began to run again, but new lines have been built or are under construction. Tertiary education had been vastly expanded with the establishment of fourteen new universities. Developments had also been recorded in agriculture, airports renovated and Nigeria becoming the largest economy in Africa.
Also, the Jonathan administration had showed unprecedented tolerance of opposing views, signed the Freedom of Information law, respected court orders while political assassination that was once rampant, was virtually unheard of in the administration. On the reverse side, it was criticized for corruption and inability to check the Boko Haram insurgency.
In contrast, the APC had mainly promises and the need for change. The APC successfully lured the PDP from issue-based campaigns, to a propaganda war in which all was fair and game.
The APC machine was more efficient; grinding on ceaselessly and drawing in whoever was interested. In contrast, the PDP machine seemed every now and then, to be in need of refurbishing. Generally, the campaigns showed that the Jonathan administration needed more efficient persons.
Going into the elections, not many would have been prepared for the virtual collapse of the PDP in a number of states where they had incumbent governors. That the elections were free and fair, is relative; some of the votes recorded in some states were simply incredible.
This implies that our democracy still needs a lot of culturing. So also does open political debates; most of them were actually exchange of insults. It was sad to read otherwise intelligent Nigerians on whom the future of the country should rest, simply engaging in insults rather than debate issues.
In Buhari’s moment of triumph, Jonathan by conceding defeat and calming the country, stole some of the thunder. His exemplary statesmanship in deciding to gracefully bow out and hand over a united country to the opposition, coupled with the fact that he had established an electoral system that was largely independent, means that Jonathan has set very high standards.
He has written his name in gold in Nigerian electoral history, and many will now be willing to overlook some of the shortcomings of his administration. If Buhari at 72, could run and win the Presidency, the last might not have been heard of Jonathan who is just 58.
Certainly the man of the moment is Buhari; he now has the onus to deliver on his electoral promises and try to meet the high expectations of the electorate. There are some promises he made in the heat of the campaigns which I do not expect him to deliver on, such as bringing the Naira at parity with the dollar.
This is more so when he does not espouse a radical economic policy. His tenacity is not in doubt, but from now on, he would be an open book to be read by the public.
However, a major change agent who has succeeded in rewriting the country’s history, is Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC National Leader. He was instrumental in uniting opposition parties, helping to organize acceptable primaries, and whose group provided the Vice President-elect, Prof Osinbajo.
Tinubu shares with Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the ability to attract young, bright and intelligent people who are not afraid of innovations. Like General Shehu Yar’Adua and MKO Abiola, he has the ability of making friends across all known divides; regional, ethnic, religious and cultural. Back in 2003, he was the main governor that resisted the then President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The prediction by many leading politicians was that he would not be re-elected Lagos State Governor. It turned out that he was the only Governor re-elected in the West.
From winning one state, he and his team went on to win the governorship elections in five additional states; Ekiti, Osun, Ogun, Oyo and Edo States. With the 2015 elections, he has moved to the centre stage of power in the country.
After the election storm, the debris have to be cleared, reconstruction carried out; there is an economy to run, electoral promises to be kept and a country to be put back on track. Four years, even eight years is a short time; an alert electorate will be watching.
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