We shocked the world. We surprised ourselves. We surpassed our own expectations. We proved our critics and adversaries wrong. When everybody thought the outcome would implode our nation and validate the doomsayers’ prediction that Nigeria would disintegrate this year, the main contenders to the highest political office in the land, President Goodluck Jonathan and the opposition candidate(now the President-elect), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, set aside their differences and ambition. And, together we won.
If this sums up the outcome of the March 28 Presidential election, Nigeria has passed with excellence, the most important milestone on the road to an enduring democracy, that is, the peaceful transfer of power through the ballot box, from one party to another. This has never happened before. And now a vista of new hope has dawned in Nigeria. When the history of the 2015 elections is written, generous space will be given to Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari. Both have given us the virtues we had long expected of our politicians. Both have taught us how to do away with the vices that have discouraged many from going into the Nigeria’s slippery pole, pork barrel politics. Perhaps not anymore. Now, there’s a breath of fresh air, a renewal in our politics.
Winning is not all there is in politics. Defeat is one of the dreaded times in politics. It’s a time to test the sterner stuff a politician is made of. Conceding defeat could be easy to contemplate but too hard for some to take. The worst moment in an election is not when you win, but when you lose. It’s the moment of truth. It’s a time when the loser begins to cope with the reality of the outcome. Some politicians when they find themselves in such a situation suffer an instant implosion or meltdown. They feel extinquished. There’s a sinking feeling. Then, disillusionment sets in. That’s when you see a loser and his hordes of supporters launch verbal swipes against the winner, rejecting the result. If in doubt, ask elder Godsday Orubebe. He is now the poster boy of the “do-or-die” mentality that has done collateral damage to our politics. The truth is that some politicians are sore losers. But not President Jonathan. I guess the President must have been struck with an unforgettable shock, pain and disbelief seeing his re-election bid suddenly in flames. But, his gallantry in defeat is an acceptance of how tough the contest was. This, defintely, will remain a talking point in our political history. The moment of denouement of was when defeat became obvious, we were told, the President called the presumptive winner on phone to congratulate him. It was a promise he made earlier. Not many politicians in Nigeria (if any) keeps to a promise made. But Jonathan chose to be different. He showed us that election should not be a matter of life and death. His ennobling words in his concession speech was devoid of bitter and rancour. Even if he was upset by some of the lapses that characterised the elections, he never showed it.
That’s exactly the kind of attitude and virtues our politics has been missing for decades. It softens the blows of defeat that puts the anger of fanatic supporters in check. What else can you fight for when the man you want to lay down your life says ‘no blood is worth shedding on my behalf’? For me, one of the greatest lessons of Jonathan’s humility in defeat is to the effect that failure is an event, not a person. In other words, the way a politician handles defeat can bring future successes if he remains firm in his convictions. It’s ironical that Jonathan left it too late to let Nigerians know his true character as a leader. Perhaps he waited to bring home the saying of Sophocles that it’s better to allow the sun to set to judge how splendid the day has been.
No matter what his failings are as President, history will be kind to Jonathan, provided historians do not rush to make a verdict on his presidency. He has secured himself a pristine place in history. He’s more than a statesman. Now, enters the President-elect. Anyone who doubted the staying power of Buhari (and I was one of them), he surprised a lot of us. Not really because he won the election in his fourth attempt (though that’s a record in our history),he didn’t bungle the moment to respond to the President’s concession speech. A good speech must combine the profoundity to persuade or compel, convert or change an agenda. Style must not take the place of substance. Buhari kept to all these ‘essentials’. It didn’t matter that he doesn’t have the gift of oratory but he addressed the issues of our time and acknowledged the President’s kind, and decent disposition.
Buhari’s acceptance speech contained uplifting hymns to democratic freedom and rule of law that encapsulate the principles of decency and liberty that we cherish and good words that appeal to some world leaders who stood by us during the elections. Together, Jonathan and Buhari have re-defined our political history in positive ways. Before now, our leaders were “sincere deceivers”, people who never keep to their words once they come to power. Trust drives politics and makes the followership to believe in their leaders. Politics requires that those who hold public office as well as those who aspire to high offices should define themselves and where they stand on critical issues that matter to the people. As we get ready for Jonathan to exit the presidency and Buhari presidency to commence, the first task for the new president is how to respond with speed and clarity to the problems on ground. Nigeria faces an uncertain future. Renewal of hope, healing the wounds of citizens in a country polarised into mutually exclusive enclaves of North and South is key. While patience is necessary, the President-elect should bear in mind that he should be held accountable for all the promises he made on corruption, security, the economy, and power, social infrastructure and job creation, among other pressing needs The presidency is not a prize to be won. It’s a duty to be done..
As Buhari begins to articulate the composition of his cabinet and how he can solve the manifold national problems, he should ask himself: why did voters get disillusioned with the ruling PDP? Why did Jonathan squander the huge public trust and lost the election by over two million votes four years after defeating the same familiar opponent by over 10 million votes?
Genuine answers to these questions will help the Buhari Presidency to keep his ears to the ground and eyes on the ball. This much is enough advice for the incoming administration: the Presidency brings no special gift of prophesy or foresight. Once a President takes the oath of office, it’s how he applies himself on the job and to the challenges that confront the country and its people, will determine either his success or failure.