AS you read this, I am certain that the winner of the presidential election of Saturday, 28th March 2015, is known, either officially or from all reasonable indicators. I am also sure that the election lived up to its billing as the most closely contested in the history of Nigeria, with the presidential election of June 12th June 1993 coming a close second.
Definitely, this was one election which brought the eyes of the whole world upon us. Our friends out there (including those who pretend to be) were loud and clear with their opinions and concerns that we conduct a free, fair and credible election.
In fact, one of those “friends”, the United States of America, seemed so interested in that election that its President, Barack Obama, took the unprecedented step of making a recorded broadcast telling us his expectations, as if Nigeria were one of America’s overseas colonies and dependencies.
That broadcast left many of our people with mixed feelings. Some were angry that a superpower that turned down our bid for sophisticated weapons to tackle terrorism in our country, perhaps because of our aggressive anti-gay policies; our former number one oil customer who ditched us after its breakthrough in shale oil technology (though it continued to buy from other countries); America, whose foreign relations experts doom-said our country seven years ago predicting our disintegration, dared to mount a platinum pulpit and sanctimoniously preach to us as if our wellbeing causes them sleepless nights.
Love from abroad
But on a deeper reflection, we have to bear in mind that what Obama did with five days to the election, had nothing to do with America’s love or hate for Nigeria. In a way, it was in the interest of America that our elections went well and produced a peaceful and acceptable outcome. Nigeria, with a touted population of over 170 million people, would be a worldwide dilemma if anything went terribly wrong.
Supposed we witnessed a re-enactment of our dark past in the 1960s when elections and censuses triggered military coups, pogroms, a brutal civil war and nearly forty years of military rule? What if we played out another Rwanda/Burundi where ethnic tensions boiled over and led to the massacre of over a million people within four months; or Kenya, a hitherto peaceful country that has been spared of military intervention which suddenly dissolved into a cyclone of race-related killings in which most political leaders were blamed; or even another Cote d’Ivoire, where a sitting president lost an election and refused to hand over, but was flushed out by military force?
Those other countries are smaller and much more manageable entities. Should a massive collapse of sanity take place in Nigeria, the scope of the disaster will be difficult for the world to handle, and America, being the self-assigned policeman of the world, will feel the heat. Nigeria is already a place of interest for terrorists such as Al Qaeda, Islamic State and their confederate Jihadists all over the Middle East and Africa.
The collapse of Nigeria could spiral terrorism out of control, and it will not just be Islamic terrorism we would be talking about. We already have other angry groups, most of them well armed, such as the Niger Delta militants, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra/Biafra Zionist Movement (MASSOB/BZM), the recharged Odua People’s Congress (OPC) and the rampaging Fulani Janjaweed (which goes by the misnomer of “Fulani herdsmen”) shellacking minority communities in the Middle Belt.
No alternative to peace
With all these in mind, we, Nigerians, must beware of the potential danger before us. We must realise that there is no alternative to peaceful comportment, irrespective of who has been declared the winner of the presidential election. Neither President Goodluck Jonathan nor General Muhammadu Buhari is bigger than Nigeria. Neither the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) nor the All Progressives Congress (APC) is more important than Nigeria.
They are all Nigeria’s children. There was once a time when a certain Chief Moshood Abiola and General Sani Abacha put this country on knife-edge. But when they were “miraculously” withdrawn from the scene by unseen hands within a matter of thirty days, the country got a breather. That was how we started the journey to the current democracy. That is what we mean by the saying: “no one is bigger than Nigeria”.
It all depends on us, the followers. It depends how we react to the promptings of the politicians whom we support. We must ask ourselves this question: when a politician threatened, between sobs, that the blood of baboons and dogs would mix, who did he have in mind as “baboons” and “dogs”? Certainly, he was not referring to his children and family members. He was not even talking about his opponents, his opponents’ children or family members. Before they strike the match to set off the explosion of violence, politicians make sure that they and their children and close family members are far away from the fight. They send their misguided supporters to kill and be killed.
After a while, when the law enforcement agencies have arrested the situation, they and their families crawl out of hiding. Meanwhile, those killed are gone for good. A new government assumes power, and life goes on. Before long, the former antagonists will be shaking hands and embracing each other at the Council of State meetings. They could negotiate a “unity” government to offset their losses.
They may even become members of the same political party a few years down the line in a realignment of forces. Who could have believed that former political gladiators, Olusegun Obasanjo, Chris Ngige, Rotimi Amaechi, Atiku Abubakar and others would one day be in one camp rooting for the same presidential candidate whom they fought in the past? Never be any politician’s dog or baboon! Anybody who kills or dies for a politician is the greatest fool. Why should you kill or die for a politician who will never do the same for you? This same politician will not even know you exist when he gets there. Four years down the line, you will still be complaining and looking for the elusive “change”.
Time for governance
Having voted for a candidate of your choice, be a sport and accept the outcome. You have done your bit. Put pressure on those elected to do their own. Whoever lost the Saturday presidential election must call the winner and congratulate him. The winner should also extend his hands of fellowship to the losers. That way, there will be no loser but Nigeria will be the winner. We will all be winners. The wounds of electioneering will quickly heal and Nigeria will move on.
It is one thing to win an election but yet another to face the job it brings. We are faced with serious security challenges, particularly the task of finishing off Boko Haram in the North East. We have an economy that is threatened by worldwide oil burst. We also have an economy that has become the biggest in Africa and the 26th largest in the world, needing to be harnessed for the benefit of all Nigerians, not just a few people at the top. We have a polity severely broken by warlike campaigns between the PDP and APC.
We must join hands with the president-elect to resume the work that the campaigns disrupted. There is no need crying over spilt milk. Don’t listen to those who want to make you their cannon fodder. No politician’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.
VANGUARD
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