In a football game, the exchange of your dirty,
sweaty jersey is a mark of respect for a job well fought. The phone call
to concede an election is a sign of respect
There is only one thing I will take away from our presidential
election; things do work in Nigeria. In 1999/2000 as a lecturer in a
Historical Black University in Chicago, I had mentioned to my students
that within ten years America would have a black president. There was a
furious disagreement by my students who I basically told that my not
being an American citizen allowed me to trust the system the way I did.My proclamation was really based on a system that I had lived in consistently for 10 years, and I had witnessed the progress in the society as regards to Black upward mobility and I was very sure that with the right candidate, a Black would become president very soon.
On the night Mr. Obama won his first election, I received a few emails from students that were in my class when I made that pronouncement. From the wordings in their emails, they were relieved and yet frightened for his life; and so again I said trust the system, the system will protect him.
My reason for bringing this up is because of the argument over several weeks with friends about what might happen or what will not happen in our elections. I had continuously told friends that our political system was getting stronger and our entire country had become politically sophisticated to be hoodwinked into self-destruction. But friends that I spoke with and from readings in social media told me one thing; we distrust the system we are creating.
Jega to be retired on Friday, Jega to go on leave before retiring, Jega held a private meeting in Dubai with APC big wigs, Jega is on the side of PDP today and tomorrow will side with APC, we don’t want the PVC, the card reader is for rigging. This election will never take place and when it was postponed, I got an earful and that is when I wrote my only article on the elections.
In that article, I wrote that this was a necessary time out by the PDP because they were being overrun by the APC, but that like in basketball where timeouts are taken to stop the momentum of an opponent, both teams re-strategize. I also pleaded with friends that aside from the 1999 presidential elections, all other elections have taken place in the month of April (the date was very well in the mandatory election period), so be patient.
My thinking has always been that for a system to work it must be tested under very harsh or difficult conditions. To me the system was looking very good but it had to be tested; but people were so scared of the system that we almost broke it before testing it. This was the very first time in our history that we were having a competitive presidential election, both parties played hard ball. It was rough, dirty and in many instances personally vicious.
But that is the nature of competition; just yesterday here in America, Senator Reid (former senate Democrat leader) openly admitted that he lied on the floor of the senate when he said Mr. Romney (republican challenger to Mr. Obama) did not pay taxes for 10 years. In an interview where he was asked the question about why he said something that was not true, his reply was short and simple; did Mr. Romney win? This is an example of hard ball politicking and we are just getting there in Nigeria.
America to me is the worst place for politics, the money in American politics is used to define your opponent and we saw a lot of this in our own elections. Despite all the vicious attacks, the election took place, there was a winner, there was a well-publicized phone call to concede, and we now await the peaceful transition period and oath taking ceremony. But then again, I have a friend that tells me that until the oath taking and Jonathan is back to his village, he will not let up in his doubts of the system working. And there are many like him and yet there is precedent of an elected Nigerian leader hanging on to power after a defeat.
This is also the attitude that is killing our football and making officials capitalize on our fears. A team believes that they have no shot in an away game, they complain, protest even before the start of the game, they become a nuisance to the system. They try to influence game officials supposedly to give them a fair chance; they abandon games because they are afraid to lose. Gov. Amaechi abandoned voting because he was afraid to lose; Elder Orubebe was protesting a game in progress; but thank God, we had a pretty good referee who handled both issues as a man with total control.
The gain of stiff competition is the production of a good product; competition brings out the best and worst in players and likewise in politicians. Good competition allows for coaches, managers, political consultants to test their mettle under tough conditions. The best coaches are coaches that consistently win tight games, not the one that wins against lesser competition, so shall it become in Nigerian politics, the “back room staff” will become better at projecting their candidates in a rough and tumble political environment.
Like in a first class football game, the exchange of your dirty, sweaty jersey is a mark of respect for a job well fought. The phone call to concede an election is equally a sign of respect; it is what needs to be done. We are in our very first exchange of a playing jersey, rather than criticize as some have done, I see it as part of strengthening our system. This is what we want; I shake hand with the coach that just ‘killed’ my team. I don’t need congratulations for shaking hands but the acknowledgement of a system that I dwell in. You do not need to congratulate Jonathan; neither should you criticize him, for this is the system we are creating; TRUST THE SYSTEM and LET IT WORK
One last thought; just like football or any major professional sport, good players flock to winning teams. I hope the best of the rest in PDP do not flock to the winning APC and further decimate the badly bruised PDP, we need a formidable opposition to continue to strengthen our system, and we need what we call competitive balance within this system.
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