When I wrote that President Goodluck Jonathan deserved commendation for conceding to then President-elect Muhammadu Buhari even before all the votes were counted, some observers – especially online – condemned me.
They said Jonathan knew he could not win the election so there was nothing left for him to fight with. Others said he was a “scared chicken” who was too timid to fight. Some even believed his noble act heralded a change of heart of Nigerian politicians who see elections as a do-or-die affair. There were sorts of wild theories to denigrate the man’s patriotic move.
They conveniently forgot that the average politician in Nigeria seldom accepts defeat in the polls, even if he has no followers. Sometimes the one who came last screamed even more about injustice than the one who came a close second!
The ruling party of the day – the APC – has vindicated me. Just a year in office, the same guys who ganged up to drive the PDP out of power, are unable to conduct party primaries. The results are always controversial and the “losers”, unlike Jonathan, refuse to accept defeat.
From Rivers to Edo and Ondo, the outcome is the same. It has been an endless story of contention with allegations of fraud, ballot stealing and even switching names of delegates.
The problem is that the Nigerian politician is like the leopard – he cannot change his spots. If he really came to serve like he boastfully tells anyone who cares to listen, why then does the office seeker use all sorts of illegal and unlawful methods to get into office?
The current crises in the ruling party show Jonathan’s singular act of calling President Buhari and conceding saved this country from war. It kept the country steady and ready for the next phase of political development.
But instead of building on this legacy, the wolves in the APC have conspired to ensure this country and free and fair elections are two parallel lines that will never meet. They have refused to learn from the untimely death of the PDP which prided itself that it would rule for 60 years.
The big shots in the APC should not take for granted that they will always have their way. Their house may fall like a pack of cards if their impunity (the same word they used to denigrate the PDP back then) continues.
They were so sure that they had wrapped up the leadership positions of the National Assembly that they went to sleep only to wake up and see different people in their chairs. Although Saraki’s effrontery (some say treachery) still rankles in the party, they have failed to learn a lesson from it.
Jonathan’s unusual act helped to push away the conflagration that would have engulfed this country and fulfill the U.S. inspired prophecy that Nigeria would break up. Politicians who follow his example will also help in no small measure to maintain peace if they just learn how to lose graciously.
The APC is an organization of strange bedfellows. But if they are patriotic they can learn to live together in the spirit of give and take. But as long as the different factions keep fighting for even the least position, the party will never know peace. It will never have credible primaries or any form of internal democracy.
With the benefit of hindsight, it is obvious that since the party is made of very powerful, very ambitious and very greedy factions, the bickering will never stop.
And that is bad for Nigeria. Really bad.
Picture credit: Daily Post
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