With God all things are possible. If men were God, something would have happened, but men are not God and can never be. The above assertion underscores the victory of the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) in the just-concluded presidential poll. The outcome of poll is a big lesson and eye opener to every Nigerian irrespective of religion, status and tribe. Buhari is today the Abraham Lincoln of Nigeria. His tenacity and resilience paid off at last. Despite initial odds and frustration, Buhari even at his age never lost hope or confidence in Nigeria as a country.
He kept faith and hope that the country can be salvaged. His election victory is unique and unprecedented in the sense that for the first time in the country’s political history, an incumbent president was defeated in an election by opposition candidate. It happened at a time pseudo analysts and prophets of doom had prophesied that it was impossible because of power of incumbency.
Ahead of the presidential poll, they vowed that Buhari would never become president of the country again. They threatened that instead of handing over to Buhari, the country would be better divided. They wished Buhari dead and alleged that he was sick and cannot rule the country well. They said he was brain-dead and cannot recognize anything even his phone numbers.
Everything was thrown into the mud to demonise the person of Buhari and other members of his party. It was a campaign of calumny like never before. Religion, ethnicity, and primordial sentiments were thrown up. Our great country Nigeria was torn along ethnic and religious lines. A dangerous political precedent was laid and political sycophants who claimed to be leaders were championing and promoting them, insulting our collective sensibility with our patrimony all for selfish reasons.
Nigerians were being brainwashed with all sort of lies and gimmicks. But they all forgot that Nigerians know better and would take wise decision when the chips are down. Not even the sudden shift in the date of the presidential poll discouraged Nigerians because they have bought into the “change” campaign mantra of the APC and saw Buhari as a brand and incorruptible.
I have always asked this question; how many of us were like Buhari? We are in a clime where what matters most is wealth and power, not how they were acquired or gotten. No wonder politics has become a do or die affair because most politicians have no second address and lack clear vision, and integrity. But for Buhari, what worked for him in the election is his integrity which he had built over the years.
In trying to demonise Buhari during the campaign, his political opponents could not point at any wealth he amassed, while in office as Head of State or chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund. He lives a modest and humble life and never believed in amassing ill-gotten wealth. Even as a former Head of State, Buhari has no house of his own in Abuja or overseas. All these good virtues were to his advantage during his party primaries and presidential election. Even the political class and the APC chieftains saw that there was need for urgent change in the country’s political leadership to save the country from total collapse. Having seen the direction the country was going, sacrifices were made by the political class and Nigerians who realized that if the country collapses, they and their kiths and kin are not safe, and posterity will not forgive them. Besides, they have no other country of their own except Nigeria. So in Buhari, they saw the alternative and better option. That was the reason they voted for him en masse during poll.
Today Nigerians have decided and Buhari is the president-elect. So the questions are; where are the influence peddlers who are always bestriding the corridors of power, holding the country ransom, dictating who gets what for their selfish reasons. Where are the praise singers and the shameless godfathers who vowed that Buhari would never be president of the country again? Where are the prophets of doom who prophesied otherwise about Buhari’s victory? Where are those who wished Buhari dead and said that he is brain-dead? Where are the Aso Rock cabals who hijacked and misled President Jonathan for so long? Have they seen how transient political power could be? For those that they have ears, let them hear and for those who have eyes, let them see. The change has come and the PDP’s boast that they would rule the country has become a mere talk and a ruse.
I know just like every other Nigerian that the cabal would be disappointed for not being consulted by the President before conceding defeat to Buhari after the poll. But the cabal should bury their heads in shame because President Jonathan acted wisely by conceding defeat, having realised that they are deceits and saboteurs masquerading as political leaders. President Jonathan has proved that he understood the idiom “once bitten, twice shy.”
By President Jonathan’s action, he has written his name in the political history of the country to the shame, and disappointment of the political hawks in who believed that the corridors of power are their ancestral homes. It is obvious that if President Jonathan had acted as expected by these political hawks or merchants by rejecting the poll result and something unusual emanates from it, they will be the first to abandon and blame him when the chips are down.
The victory has renewed my faith in the people of Nigerians that at any crucial moment in the country’s history, they would do the needful to keep the country together. It has also shown that Nigerians are not dociles and dullards as some opportunistic and accidental leaders have believed and thought before now. It has revealed that henceforth no elected leader should take the people’s power for granted on any account. It has underscored the point that history could be made or marred one day and nothing is permanent except change. It has proved that Nigeria is growing and maturing politically and democratically, and that with a square peg in a square hole, the country’s electoral process will be better off.
For the president-elect, Buhari, to whom much is given, much is expected. The massive support given to him in the election by Nigerians is a clear testimony of the people’s confidence in him. So for this reason, Buhari’s government cannot afford to disappoint Nigerians. Obviously, there are great challenges ahead for Buhari and his party, but one good thing is that Buhari and his party men are not strangers in Nigeria. They understand the enormity of the challenges confronting the country and are in a vantage position to provide workable solution.
The in-coming government must first of all tackle the monster called corruption headlong and forthwith. It is the greatest enemy of the country since independence and successive governments have treated it with kid gloves. It is root of the country’s numerous problems. Expected to be sanitized by the new government is the country’s electoral process that has been characterized with fraud and irregularities. The process should be made to be transparent, free and fair. Public office holders whether elected or appointed should be made to accountable to the people, and not to themselves as it is presently. Meritocracy and integrity must be basis for choice of our public leaders and not ethnicity, religion or other primordial sentiments.
I believe that with Buhari’s integrity, sincere and selfless approach to governance, the country can be restored to its past glory. No sacrifice is too much at this point by both the political leaders and followers. So all hands must be on deck to salvage the country as there was no loser and winner in the poll. It is all for the good of the country and the future of the posterity.
- Imansuangbon, lawyer and politician wrote from Virginia, USA.
