Friday, May 29, 2015 was “Coronation Day”!

I told my daughter Adetamilore, who is nearing her fourth birthday, that just like in her favorite cartoon movie Frozen, Muhammadu Buhari was the new King and he had good special powers to make things fantastic in Nigeria, but that unlike in the movie, everything went well with the “Coronation”. We got her to watch the inauguration of the new president live on TV, her little sister Adetimileyin in tow – the two little ladies witnessed history like most of the 180 million other Nigerians.

On December 31, 1983, I was about her age at the time of President Buhari’s first coming. Circumstances were way different. It was a different type of transition – a military coup heralded by martial music on our radios. For those of us who grew up in the 80s through the early 90s, that was the type of transition we became accustomed to, as the country experienced coups, failed coups and a “stepping aside”.

Another factor that made this transition an interesting one is that it was peaceful. Asides the long stretches of military interventions in governance, our country’s history has also been pockmarked by mindless violence associated with political transitions. Certainly, the number of lives lost due to military coups since our independence in 1960, is nothing compared to the number of those lost during the build-up-to and immediate aftermath of elections. My people in the Southwest of Nigeria especially understand the volatility of transitions. We are familiar with the spirit of totalitarianism, intolerance and poor sportsmanship that has characterized our politics in previous eras, such as the “wetie” crisis of 1965, preceded by the violence in 1962 which led to the declaration of a six months state of emergency. In fact, at the time of President Buhari’s first coming in 1983, the country was still reeling from the violence that marred the very contentious general elections, which featured in some places, the rehash of the “wetie” style of politicians inciting mobs to douse their opponents with gasoline and brazenly set them on fire. All the elections since 1999 also caused varying degrees of violence.

The foregoing provides a context within which to view the apprehension of Nigerians and the international community towards the 2015 election, with widespread predictions that at worst, it would lead to the disintegration of the entity called Nigeria and at best, it would occasion widespread bloodshed. But our republic came through it standing strong and the better for it. Seeing former president Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, our new president, seat together, smiling and sharing banters during the historic moments that power to lead the most populous black nation in the world was changing hands, is a sight etched in the memory of many Nigerians forever.

Friday, May 29, 2015 was a major step in the deepening of our democracy. Since the end of military rule in Nigeria and the commencement of our fourth republic of civilian rule in 1999, Nigeria has gone on to witness the peaceful civilian to civilian transition of power in 2007 and now in 2015, the first alternation of power from one political party to the other. It is instructive that President Buhari duly acknowledged the patriotic sacrifice of M.K.O. Abiola and other martyrs of the botched June 12, 1993 transition in laying the foundation for this to happen.

So it is in this context, that I will by God’s grace spend time teaching Tammy and Timmy the significance of “Coronation Day” in our history and for our future. However, before I teach her some key lessons, I have to help her unlearn that the answer to the question “Who is the President of Nigeria”? is no longer Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, but now Muhammadu Buhari. Similarly, in the spirit of the season, we adults have a lot of attitudes to unlearn and new ones to adopt if we are to be active citizens working with Muhammadu Buhari to birth a new Nigeria.

I will teach my daughters that despite his many failings, Goodluck Jonathan’s last major act in graciously conceding defeat indeed made him a hero. I will teach them that Muhammadu Buhari has been magnanimous in victory and promised not to use his powers to hurt any of his enemies. I will teach them that the Nigerian spring was via the ballot and a lesson to the whole world. Just like the world acclaimed diplomat and former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku stated when proposing a toast during the inaugural dinner, I will teach them that Dr. Kayode Fayemi, former Governor of Ekiti State, similarly deserves commendation for setting the patriotic precedent in our polity by conceding defeat even when evidences were manifest that the June 21, 2014 election in Ekiti State was manipulated to put his opponent at an advantage. I will teach them about characters like Elder Orubebe and Prof. Jega, and the roles they played in our transition. I will teach them that the campaign that brought President Buhari to office was powered mainly by young Nigerians, including many of daddy’s friends.

Hopefully, the restructuring of the country will result in a more robust framework for deterministically teaching our children History and Civics in our schools and via other non-formal platforms. Hopefully these lessons will be available not only to Tammy and Timmy but to all Nigerian children. Hopefully, Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure of leadership will usher in the new Nigeria of our dreams – a country where doing good is rewarded and wrongdoing is punished; a country where everyone regardless of age, gender, tribe, religion, physical ability, or any other social markers would be given an equal chance to live life more abundantly and fulfill his/her God-given destiny. Hopefully, I can remind her that the change that made Nigeria a great country again started on “Coronation Day”.

Akin Rotimi is a strategic communications, diplomacy and public policy professional. He writes from Lagos.

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.