Nigeria’s immediate past President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, has just been appointed Head of the Commonwealth Observer Group to the forthcoming elections in Tanzania. As the leader of the group, he will be expected to report on the conduct of the elections with focus on the observance of the principles of electoral integrity as well as the tenets of free and fair participation by the people and the candidates.
Jonathan, for emphasis, left office as president under record setting circumstances, at least, by Nigerian standards. While in office, he promised to ensure that democracy thrived and that the general elections, on his watch, will keep to the international best practices of democratic conduct. He made it clear that his aspiration to be president of Nigeria was not worth a drop of any Nigerian’s blood.
His administration fulfilled this promise which manifested in the conduct of an election that was transparent enough to be adjudged by Nigerians and the international community as satisfying the expectations of the participants, that is, the electorate and the candidates even as it resulted in the defeat of an incumbent, in this case, President Jonathan himself. He was humble in conceding defeat even before the final result was announced; an attitude that was uncommon in the annals of democratic practice in the country. He, therefore, set a standard, to the acclamation of all, that will remain a reference point. And for the first time in recent memory in the nation’s democratic journey, there was no post-election litigation, at least at the presidential level.
President Muhammadu Buhari, as a show of magnanimity in victory, thanked Jonathan for saving the country from the pre-election cataclysmic anticipations. World leaders saw in the former president’s handling of the entire process as evidence that Nigeria has redeemed herself after past years of false steps and self-inflicted electoral complications.
His appointment by the Commonwealth for this special assignment is another international endorsement of his sterling democratic credentials which he demonstrated, first in Nigeria, through the conduct of free and fair elections. It is also, in our view, an acceptance that he left behind a legacy of credible elections worthy of emulation by other countries in the continent of Africa.
After that famous phone call during which he congratulated Buhari as President-elect, Nigerians, his friends and even cynics knew that it was a matter of time before he was called upon to replicate elsewhere his efforts at building democratic structures.
As we congratulate him on this international recognition, we consider it pertinent to remind him that the assignment demands of him a presence of mind and political astuteness needed to meander successfully through the intricacies of that country’s electoral peculiarities.
In our opinion, it is something to be proud of that another Nigerian former leader has been found worthy to be saddled with such high-powered democratic duty. Former leaders, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and General Abdulsalami Abubakar, have commendably played such roles that have consistently kept the country in the limelight of the world’s undying quest for consolidation of democratic system of governance.
END
Be the first to comment