by Tunde Fagbenle

Let no one be deceived that the probable horrendous cataclysm that has just been averted in Nigeria came merely because “it was never going to happen anyway,” as some would say; or because those beating the drums of war had no stomach for it.

And without attempting to take away from the courageous and gentlemanly gesture of President Goodluck Jonathan in quickly conceding defeat as soon as it became clear that nothing else left of the results yet undeclared could avert it, that gesture must not be assumed to have come simply out of the generosity of his heart or weakening of his resolve, or an abatement of the pressure on him to hang on to power “let heaven fall,” as those around him were known to have repeatedly said.

Little would we know (and we must eternally be grateful to them) the very many players and forces behind the scene, working day and night to sustain the pressure on war-threatening centres, their commanders, and the idols they are rooting for – with assurances, thinly-veiled threats, soft-landing offers, etc, that whatever it takes, there must be no war! The world was not unwitting of the implications of an outbreak of war in a country like Nigeria, the seismic consequences throughout West Africa and beyond. It was a global calamity easily foreseen. It MUST not happen.

Pointedly, President-elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in his acceptance speech after receiving the certificate of electoral victory from chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, mentioned some in particular.

He gave special thanks to President Obama for “his timely intervention and support” and “for sending Secretary John Kerry and other United States officials.” Especially too, were the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United Nations Secretary General Mr. Ban-Ki Moon. “The Commonwealth, China, India and other Asian and Gulf states are also hereby appreciated.”

He also acknowledged, “…our brothers in the African Union and ECOWAS… Former Presidents John Kuffour, Amos Sawyer, Bakili Muluzi and his team are well appreciated…”

And on the home-front, “Former head of state and President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, General Yakubu Gowon, Alh. Shehu Shagari, General Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Ernest Shonekan and General Abdulsalami Abubakar deserve commendations for their statesmanship and words of caution and counsel for peace during the tense moments of this electoral period.”

To these people, individuals and groups, we owe the salvation of our present democracy. The peace, the calm, which overcame the land after news that President Jonathan had called Gen. Buhari to congratulate him, was magical. The tension that had enveloped the land prior to that was palpable. The air was suffocating. Cowardly, yes cowardly, Nigerians and foreigners had left Nigeria in droves. The international airports were jammed with those struggling to escape the seemingly inevitable cataclysm. Those that stayed back had gone stocking their homes with foodstuffs and other items to last days, if not weeks. By the last couple of days, and as the results were slowly but meticulously being announced by Jega’s INEC, offices, even government ones, were closing for half or all of the day, banks ditto; schools closed, streets and highways were deserted. A newspaper carried the photograph of a cripple running his mobile-plank (trolley) contraption in the middle of an expressway, all to himself without the fear of any approaching vehicle!

Luckily, as events unfolded and the results of the elections became generally known, where efforts of the peacemakers should be directed became clearer. Buhari was winning, Jonathan was losing. The possible rebellion from the ‘creeks’ were containable and amenable to palliatives. The ringleaders are already stupendously rich, bloated by the overflowing largesse from the Jonathan government. They now had too much to lose, even more than they stood to gain from any renewed intransigence or violence. Wow, risk the billions they already have? And their foot soldiers were largely a disillusioned lot. The hope that a Buhari offers in a better-managed, more accountable country was reassuring. Were things to be going the other way, through any subterfuge or contrivance, the job of the “Peacemakers” would have been virtually impossible. As I mentioned in this column recently after observing the cult-like following Gen. Buhari commands especially in parts of the north, nothing could have stopped the apocalypse. Not Buhari himself; not any broadcast of conceding to Jonathan, nothing! Nay, the country (other than the southeastern and south-southern parts, alas, it seems) has had enough of Jonathan!

Yes, in the days and weeks to come we would all still be talking about the ramifications of the election results, the heroes and the villains, the contradictions, the expectations, the actors and the characters. This column would not be left out. The opportunity of a new start must not be frittered away through our carelessness or non-vigilance.

For now, the governorship and state parliamentary elections are in a week’s time. Nigerians must troop out equally, vote and ensure their votes count. And that’s saying it the way it is!

Still at work: the Judases who betrayed GEJ & Nigeria

My good aburo and friend, the cerebral multi-media columnist, Pius Adesanmi, a professor of English in Canada, took the words out of my mouth about a trend I was beginning to perceive too whereby diehard Jonathanians are wanting to deny Buharists (and Nigerians) the sense of relief and celebration that is their due.

Here is Adesanmi’s take, edited, “saying it the way it is”:

“The traitors who plotted Goodluck Jonathan’s fall with the most fanatically irresponsible following I have ever seen anywhere in Africa are determined to make this new beginning for our beloved country a stillbirth.

“They are joking. We are here to crack their stubborn coconut heads

“They blocked the civic process, blocked patriotism, emptied citizenship of dignity, turned the contract between leader and follower to a Dionysian rite and decreed that the only way they would allow the rest of us to be Nigerians was through an unconditional acceptance of a democratic President as a “Kabiyesi”.

“Now it would be funny and amusing if they limited this idiocy to their own circuits of sorry-ass sore loserhood. No, humility is not in their DNA. They have fanned across the land since yesterday, intimidating and bullying all the Buharists who worked so hard for yesterday’s hard-earned victory.

“I have witnessed elections in many African countries. I have witnessed elections in France and Britain. I have witnessed elections in the United States and Canada. Never in my life have I seen a situation where election losers determine post-election atmospherics and the behaviour of the country! These losers in Nigeria are pregnant and nursing a baby.

“First they started guilt-tripping the victorious Buharists — who fell for their rubbish — by insisting on magnanimity in victory. Then they continued the intimidation by criminalising anybody who did not join in the immediate nonsense of lionising the post-election status of Goodluck Jonathan. Many Buharists allowed themselves to be led on a leash by these irresponsible sore losers.

“If you are a Buharist on this train, get off immediately. You are forgetting one thing. Your magnanimity as a winner must come from you, evolve from your heart, not prompted by the say-so of arrogant losers. Your magnanimity must come after one thing has happened. The losers must have acknowledged the victory of your candidate and warmed up to it in a grand act of post-electoral reconciliation and sportsmanship.

“Goodluck Jonathan did this and I thank and commend him for it. Not Nobel-level act but class act. You cannot take that away from him. Unfortunately, many of the overzealous followers who destroyed him have not received the memo of class-act sportsmanly loserhood from their principal.

“Many of these characters have refused to acknowledge Buhari’s victory. On the contrary, they have continued to demonise him, call him names, while insisting that you, Buharist, recognise Jonathan as Nigeria’s new Nobel Peace laureate and UN Secretary-General, positions he will hold only temporarily till they demote Angel Gabriel from heaven and replace him with Goodluck Jonathan.

“What arrogance! What hubris! These are the Judases who betrayed GEJ and betrayed Nigeria.

“What we must be ready to do is forge a coalition of the willing and work for Nigeria with reasonable Jonathanians who have shown great sportsmanship by first acknowledging the victory of our man and congratulating us. Those are the ones who can elicit sentiments of magnanimity in victory and generosity of spirit from us — not these arrogant ones who are bullying everybody with their sore loserhood.

“The new Nigeria we are all going to work our asses to build must be for all.”

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