SIR: The 2019 General Elections has come and gone with the attendant precarious rowdiness exacerbated by a blighting harvest of unwieldy litigation, counter court orders, treacherous contestations within parties and death of innocent Nigerians.
But it is very obvious that we have not learnt any lesson from our past to gain the much needed momentum in deepening our democracy.
The electoral empire, INEC, the parties and the electorate were all in a state of stasis and may have lost an opportunity to further entrench electoral values that should have served as spring board for our rather ‘stalling’ democracy and inspire confidence, and meet expectations.
While not underplaying the complicity of other stakeholders, unarguably, the mudslinging, the rancid desperation of the APC and the PDP, and the killings recorded in the just concluded election were the mutations from an ill-managed electoral victory of 2015 by the APC in the last four years.
The inability of the APC to manage its internal contradictions and whims of a subversive clique within its fold gave the PDP the impetus to re-invent and re-position itself for a comeback from the dead without necessarily purging itself of the sins against Nigerians.
Though it won the presidential election, the party performance in Ondo, Oyo, Adamawa, Bauchi, Imo and others which were its stronghold states speaks to an underlying inconvenient verdict: Governors of these states breached political boundaries in the exercise of power and undermined the brand equity (value) of the party in their respective states by the total lack of commitment to governance after winning elections.
The poor outing of the party at the presidential and National Assembly elections in Ondo State was an unequivocal reaction to the noticeable and systemic lull in governance by the governor, Aarakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu.
Those given to tokenism may attempt to rationalize that his administration was not under any electoral test in the last elections, and should, therefore not be held culpable over the fate of the party.
No! , he should be; if he is made a captain over 100 persons and he loses 50 of them to his opponent, then it tells about his capacity as a leader, taking into cognizance the fact that the party in the 2015 General Elections delivered 54% of the total votes in the state to President Muhammadu Buhari, had in its pouch three senatorial and five House of Representatives electoral victories under the leadership of its pioneer chairman, Hon. D I Kekemeke.
Surely, the governor, as a “learned” gentleman knows the difference between an open and closed door; but it is doubtful, after being in the saddle for two years, if, as a politician, he knows the difference between an open mind and closed mind to be able to inspire and forge unity, prioritize the well-being of the people over and above personal idiosyncrasies and leverage on the diversity of ideas and strength of the people of Ondo State to deliver the dividends of democracy.
Apparently held hostage by an ego that feeds from a pyrrhic invincibility, the governor made the denigration of the pioneering efforts of party stalwarts his vocation; one of the reasons he de-recognized Senator AjayiBorrofice representing the state at the National Assembly.
Democracy, as the legitimate means of electing leaders risks losing its essence and the trust of many citizens in Nigeria if mutual tolerance and what Daniel Ziblatt of Harvard University called “institutional forbearance-the responsible exercise of power by those in office”, is lacking in our polity.
To continue to restore Nigerians’ faith in our democracy and their ability to serve as its ultimate rulers and shapers, the national leadership of the APC must offer in Ondo State new perspectives from which it would re-invent, re-cast and re-approach the idea and ideal of governance in the state and Nigeria, in general, with an eye on leaders who have capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose for the greater good of all in Ondo State.
- KekemekeGboloibai, Ibadan, Oyo State.