THE DAY AFTER
Contends President Goodluck Jonathan has not done anything extraordinary
It was the morning after. Perhaps it had to do with the fact it was April Fool’s Day, but I just could not fathom the rationale nor understand how President Jonathan was positively trending. At the risk of being seen as some kill-joy or sounding politically incorrect, I just could not understand it. This was a hard-fought battle with bruises all over. This was a victory snatched from the jaws of desperate forces, who did not leave anything to chance, even with defeat staring them in the face. Yet, we are supposed to simply roll over and garland their principal on account of a concession speech. I hear the Mo Ibrahim prize and Nobel Peace prize are already lined up for him, on the strength of this magical phone call. Really? Isn’t that supposed to be a routine and something to be taken for granted formality? What could he have done under the circumstances? Reject the results? Play Gbagbo? He had little or no choice in the matter. The back was already to the wall, caged by the spectacular failure of the Orubebe show. What could he have done?
Some say he has made history on the strength of that concession. Perhaps he has. But the fact is, no Nigerian president has ever lost an election in office, before his. So there is no record of others departing from this norm. He simply did what had to be done, under the circumstance. It was nothing beyond that. Indeed, he could have done it much earlier and save us the shame brought upon us by Godsday Orubebe.
Beyond the abracadabra sold by voodoo analysts and the rigged polls posted by compromised media outlets, it was a defeat long foretold by those who could dispassionately crunch the numbers. As results trickled in, the trend largely followed the projections. What was not envisaged, however, was the blatant rigging (seen on video) and the laborious cooking of figures, ostensibly to checkmate results that had been made public. It was only a matter of time before the stupidity and futility of declaring a voter turnout of 70% in a few states in glaring contrast to the national average of 50% became obvious. By then it was apparent that subverting the process, sabotaging the card reader and playing games with result sheets and collated figures was not going to do it. That is the background to the concession that later came. To now seek to appropriate the goodwill available for harvest from the resilience and determination of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deliver a free and fair election, is unkind. We know the true heroes. The real heroes know themselves. We know the man we should be recommending for the Nobel Peace prize. His name is Attahiru Jega.
Lest we forget, this was an election to which resources from questionable sources was massively deployed. This was a contest which witnessed an unprecedented level of attack on the things that bind us together. The strategy seemed to have been about corrupting institutions, maligning the character of actors, spread fear and hate, mix politics with religion, while unleashing the instruments of force and coercion to intimidate the opponent. This is where we are coming from.
To wake up the morning after, give one speech and have the foot soldiers licking their fingers, rolling their eyes, telling us we should not gloat, but join hands to celebrate the new hero in town is interesting. We are under no obligation to do such. Heroes might be in short supply in our clime, but it should be no reason to mistake cocoyam for the real thing. We do not need an emergency hero. Some are understandably counselling that we need to sweep the past under the carpet, as we are wont to doing. But I had thought we finally rolled away the carpet with this election. Moving on does not mean not telling ourselves the hard truth. Those went overboard in dancing their way into the night, are still speaking in parables. Conceding then refusing to sign the result sheet does not seem to rhyme. But moving on is the right thing to do. But if we are looking for heroes. They abound in our land. They are the young, the old, the able, health-challenged, physically challenged, who came, in defiance of the elements, in spite of intimidation and shenanigans to midwife the process that gave us the newborn. Are we seeking those to celebrate? Celebrate Sowore. Celebrate Sahara Reporters. Celebrate the internet warriors who having conquered the net, took to the street and harvested for us the new moon. Celebrate Petra. Celebrate those in the diaspora, some stood firm, in spite of challenging personal circumstances. Celebrate Ajagzy OkunrinOgun. Celebrate Rose Graham.
Celebrate the man with the vision. Celebrate Jagaban. Celebrate those who rejected the dollars. Celebrate Lai Mohammed for his calmness and composure in the face of intimidation and vilification. Celebrate those who had the courage to stand when other were falling like a poorlystashed pack of cards.
Celebrate four-month old Oluwajomiloju, roused from sleep at 4 a.m., only a few hours after going to bed, so the mother could leave home before the curfew, to be able to vote, many kilometres away from home. Celebrate him for co-operating with the mother through her 14-hour sacrifice at the polling point, simply to be able to vote. Celebrate resilience. Celebrate those who had to pass the night away from home to be able to vote. Celebrate determination. Celebrate the men and women who stood watch over their votes deep into the night. Celebrate courage. Celebrate those who made the ultimate sacrifice to usher in a new Nigeria. Looking for heroes? They abound – Nigerians who have refused to give up, grinding a variety of mills, defying pain and shame for the sake of tomorrow. Do not take this victory away from the real heroes. Do not let them appropriate this victory with a few minutes speech that might not even be coming from the heart.
Olorunfemi, Brand and Political Strategist, works for Hoofbeatdotcom, a Nigerian Communications Consultancy