With
full adornment befitting a royalty, President Goodluck Jonathan
strolled and sauntered to power in 2010. Glowing petals of roses padded
the pavement of gold which piloted him into the Presidential Villa. He
quickly became a hero. That was then; and now a sizeable crowd somewhere
wants us to keep pulling for him as a national hero; while many others
think he has been reduced to a zero. But the question is: If Jonathan is
not your hero, does he deserve the applause for something somewhere he
may have done well?
The concession after the March 28 defeat
was the pivotal reason the President’s loyalists want us to keep
pulling for him as a hero. Even before the statesmanlike gesture, some
in many quarters had opined that Jonathan is the best president ever in
the annals of our history. Some even went as far as suggesting that his
name should be embroidered in the hearts of all men by naming
universities, major highways, an airport and a stadium after him. Those
who believe otherwise think Jonathan’s years as president were wasted;
and his rulership will forever be remembered as a hardscrabble season in
Nigeria when nothing grew. But does he deserve a standing ovation for
conceding after the election defeat?
Nigeria’s
Former External Affairs Minister and erudite professor of Political
Science, Bolaji Akinyemi, in his own opinion said this to me: “The issue
is not president Jonathan being a hero because he is President. He is a
hero because he acted out of the Nigerian character box by conceding
and making that call even before (Attahiru) Jega announced the official
results. He also decided not to go to court. Three times before,
Muhammadu Buhari ran, lost and went to court. When he lost at the court,
he poured vituperation on the judiciary. Jonathan showed grace under
pressure. He deserves recognition for that.”
A sitting
South-West governor who prefers not to be named expressed it this way:
“For conceding defeat in advance of the official declaration of the
results as an incumbent was statesmanlike. That responsible act saved
our nation and people needless tension and disturbance that could
accompany a recalcitrant act. Considering all issues about the elections
and his administration generally, he cannot be called a hero. Accepting
the verdict of the polls was remarkable and good; but it is not heroic.
Heroism is borne out of extraordinary action that defines the moment in
its impact on life, people and history. It is not the case here. We
nevertheless commend his courage to accept the outcome of the elections
without rancour thus saving the polity undue turbulence from misguided
loyalists.”
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari also made a brief
reference to the President’s wise move when he met with members of the
Eighth National Assembly at the International Conference Centre, Abuja
last week. Buhari applauded the remarkable role played by the President
for accepting the results of the election before final announcement was
made.
Methinks a rousing recognition and applause for this act
are more appropriate. Men declared heroes in their communities must have
bent over backwards with their lives on the altar of slaughter for a
cause and a people. Heroes risk their lives for something or someone.
True heroism, according to the late tennis legend, Arthur Ashe, “is
remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all
others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.”
Was there an urge by the President to surpass all others at all
costs especially during the last elections? If the account of N2trn the
President and his party were said to have expended on the elections
alone was true, if the splurging extravagance and vagaries spewed on
Obas and Obis, on the Police and soldiers, and on party men and women
were true, those were attempts to surpass all at all costs. The Peoples
Democratic Party and Jonathan dug deep into many vile arsenals to
surpass all others at all cost, and mentioning specific cases now in
this treatise is needless. Did the President have an urge to serve the
people at whatever cost? If you ask parents of the over 200 girls
abducted by Boko Haram terrorists, and consider the refusal of the
President to go commiserate with them at their hours of need, those
parents will tell you that Jonathan was not ready to serve at all costs.
That Jonathan later visited the area late in the game to shop for votes
even hurt the parents the more. True heroes don’t have skewed mindsets.
But I applaud the President for conceding defeat at the
election in the manner he did. If not, the attending disturbance would
have been unimaginably malignant; and the reprisals would have equally
been historically brutish. The acrimony would have triggered communal
clashes and blood would have flowed on our streets. The heartbeat of the
nation would have slowed down or stopped; and the economic arteries and
veins of Nigeria would have been occluded. Images of all manner of
guns, machetes and stockpiled weapony that eyes had not seen would have
been etched in the memories of women and children hunting them forever.
There would have been wailing and lamentation at an infernal level. How
many of these fires of rage would the police or soldiers have been able
to put out? For this singular act of prevention of turbulence in this
dimension, I give my standing ovation to President Jonathan; but I am
not enthused and drizzling the confetti of heroism on him. There is too
much pain in this land as a result of what Jonathan could have done for
the people but never did. When Buhari takes over on May 29, he will
behold the depth of the grave of horror that has been dug for Nigeria in
the last 16 years. He is already finding out bit-by-bit. Calling Mr.
President a hero is above my pay-grade; and doing so is not fair-game to
Nigerians who in my own opinion have always been the HEROES!
Nigerians
are the ones who have to put up with no supply of electricity; and no
electrifying widespread protest from them. They are the ones whose
wealth has been pillaged over and over again over these many years and
they are not fighting back. They know those who rob them, they know what
the robbers purchased with the loot, but they are not fighting the
powerful robbers. Right before their eyes, day in night out, gluttons in
political leadership have been beating the percussions of pecuniary
slobber and salivation that the ordinary Nigerian has been forced and
coerced to dance to. I am still wondering why the people have been so
patient at the ignominy and impunity created by ogres in government that
have outfitted governance with the vaudeville of vagabondage. I guess
the time to remind the brigands that power belongs to the people has not
come. Nigerians are my own heroes. We may not be sure where the next
dispensation is taking us; but we are very hopeful. What we have chosen
to have should be better than what we’ve had in the past. Let this serve
as a reminder to those who are already lobbying to come in to power:
Any lead drummer in Nigeria who again beats the drum of governance
off-rhythm without a due consideration to the welfare of these heroes
will be replaced without hesitation.
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