by Akin Osuntokun

 

Like Jesus at Golgotha (the site of his foreordained crucification), Nigeria might as well echo the agonising request — let this cup pass over me — not as I will but as you will, dear heavenly father.

I have been preoccupied with the challenge of the moment (post-election anxieties and uncertainties) in my recent outings on this page. Beyond the utility of this platform I went further (about two months ago) to embark on the pro-active initiative of reaching out to my peers across the partisan divide with the following solicitation “I am trying to put together a platform at the level of our generation and across party lines to complement the peace accord between Jonathan and Buhari. We would go public with this mission and reach out all over the country to like members of the successor generation and undertake a rigorous media sensitisation. My thinking is that it will be a demonstration of our readiness to take initiative on securing the peace and good order of Nigeria”.

It was in reference to this activity that I revealed in the column titled “In the Interim” the following excerpts:
“Bashorun its your abandoned aburo…Olusegun Adeniyi…many have been asking me why don’t you write regularly again…hope all is well”.

I received this subtle (AWOL) query from (my chairman) the chairman of the editorial board of THISDAY newspaper on the second occasion of being found missing in action on this page in the past three weeks. In the circumstance it is a fit and proper solicitation. All is certainly well with me — as much as it can be under the fraught political season we are enmeshed.

I cannot say the same for Nigeria. Like Jesus at Golgotha (the site of his foreordained crucification), Nigeria might as well echo the agonising request — let this cup pass over me — not as I will but as you will, dear heavenly father. For the sake of those who are not familiar with the scriptures I will clarify. It was foreordained before the beginning of time by God that his son Jesus, a pure innocent man, born of immaculate conception, must, of necessity, be crucified as a perfect sacrifice and atonement for our sins… For God so loved the world that he gave his only son…

Yet despite the certainty of this knowledge, Jesus, at the height of his preordained tribulation, could not restrain himself from seeking a waiver from God. Similarly as we approach the day of political reckoning for Nigeria — a date that has been given since 1999, and on which, ostensibly, our advancement on the journey of democracy is predicated…the onset of the D-Day is looking like a dreaded encounter with fate, with the potential to spell doom for Nigeria.

Those who know more than I do, no less a towering intellectual personality than Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, for instance, had alerted the nation to the vulnerability of Nigeria to election precipitated violence on a rampant scale and the need to anticipate this scenario with proactive containment measures. Even as I frequently canvass my partisan position, it is a responsibility I consider myself obligated to share. We are Nigerians first before we are members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or the All Progressives Congress (APC), before we are supporters and opponents of President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari.

I took the cue and reached out to my peers across the political divide to let us make a public outing of reinforcing the pledge made by both Jonathan and Buhari to cooperate and collaborate for the prospect of a violence-free election. It was unanimously received with great enthusiasm. It was a self-willed assignment I felt superseded the lapse of a temporary suspension of a weekly column.

In an earlier column titled “the zero sum election” I made the observation that: “Politics is inherently conflict-ridden with a dual and contradictory potential to either serve as a conflict resolution mechanism or generate a momentum for the escalation of conflict to crisis and ultimately to catastrophe.”

The two presidential candidates, Jonathan of the PDP and Buhari of the APC respectively, have conducted themselves with decorum and decency on the rostrums and may not be held liable for the inevitable recourse to negative campaigns of their supporters – the degree may vary but it is a worldwide sub culture. Yet the two candidates have failed in the correct identification and prioritisation of the task ahead.

In the immediate aftermath of the election, the foremost challenge that faces whoever is elected president is not fighting corruption or winning the war on Boko Haram – important as they are. It is going to be the challenge of draining the poison of divisiveness and incipient fratricidal bloodletting (on industrial scale) from the system.

It is going to be the challenge of sustaining Nigeria as a corporate entity. It is going to be the challenge of reconciling the Niger Delta militants and the Northern warlords (of rendering Nigeria ungovernable) with one another and with the rest of Nigeria. You have got to have a nation first before you can hope to successfully fight corruption and Boko Haram”.

I am privileged to have a unique political life experience. I am a first-hand witness to the capacity of politics to sour, damage and sunder human relations often beyond repair. As a child I recall how family members and supposed close friends and associates shun, ostracise and implicate one another in moments of political distress and crisis. In the more extreme cases political bitterness are passed from generation to generation.

I grew up with a rather searing and premature encounter with politics at its ugliest. I grew up watching an innocent man being hounded and buffeted at every turn of his post active political life on account of his partisan preference.

I experienced a sponsored and coordinated programme of election crisis inspired assassination of opponents that was the stuff of horror movies. A list of those earmarked for death was handed out to a contracted group of death squads from outside the theatre of crisis. Those on the list were methodically ferreted out, pummelled and butchered with cutlasses, axes, swords and sundry cudgels with a particular preference for those instruments with a capacity to rip open and spill the largest pool of blood.

My friend’s father was the peculiarly lucky one. He was saved by his casual sartorial taste. He had the habit of wearing baggy short pants not associated with people of his age and status. He was outside standing by his car when the angels of death arrived. They had his name and address but they couldn’t recognise him because they were out of town rented killers. Mistaking him for a professional driver, they inquired of him the wherewithal of his employer. He played along and took their excuse to go and summon the quarry from inside the house. He disappeared into the bush for three days.

What has transpired in the last three days signals that Nigeria has dramatically transcended this benighted dusk into the dawn of a new era and we have all Nigerians to thank for this paradigm shift particularly President Jonathan. As a deliberate and partisan supporter, I feel personally vindicated and proud of my decision to support him and advocate his cause.

The Washington Post remarked “Over the weekend, Nigeria, gave the world a largely peaceful and credible election. Retired Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the presidency. To Jonathan’s credit, he called the 72-year-old Buhari on Tuesday to concede. No doubt it is the mark of a functioning democracy when a losing candidate respects the results of a democratic election.”

In the spirit of ‘Good Friday’ and this unique Nigeria moment, I commend the eternally noble words of desiderata and the beatitudes to fellow citizens:

‘Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

‘Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.’

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’.

Let me conclude by extending felicitations and goodwill to President-elect Muhammadu Buhari notwithstanding being one of his most vocal and relentless critic. I appeal to our father figure, President Olusegun Obasanjo, to forgive and embrace his estranged godson who has conducted himself with such exemplary grace and character. I urge all on whom the role of gatekeeper has devolved especially our erstwhile caucus leader Nasir el-Rufai and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu to rise up to the occasion and leave the past behind.

————————-

 

 

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