DR Goodluck Jonathan and his fellow
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, travellers at the helm of affairs have joined the
ranks of ‘yesterday’s men’, to quote his Senior Special Adviser, Media, Dr.
Reuben Abati, who famously coined the controversial phrase. Today’s men are now
in the All Progressives Congress, APC, Federal Government of President
Muhammadu Buhari.
The new APC kids on the block must
now sheathe their swords and embrace Rev. Chris Okotie’s new paradigm of peace
engagement as they embark on the reconstruction and development of the nation.
Nigerians are indeed tired of media wars and inter-party squabbles. What we
need now are concerted action on all fronts to jump start the dormant economic
activities.
The APC leadership must make peace
with the rival PDP which must adjust to life as the opposition after 16 years
as the ruling party. It is not an easy adjustment to make, not with the picture
being painted that they were unjustly voted out by an ungrateful electorate,
after ‘all they had done for the nation’. It will not also be an easy
adjustment for APC as well, which must now learn to behave like the father of
all, rather than one which gloats over the predicament of the ousted party.
They must retain patience under
pressure and provocation, and be able to weather the storms of leadership with
sufficient equanimity, if they must remain non-partisan in their new role as
leaders of the pan-Nigerian federation. In short, they must wield peace as a
weapon against the projectiles of socio-political turmoil.
As the new Charge d’Affairs of the
nation, they must display a large heart and an open mind towards even their
most vitriolic critics; a position they also took against the erstwhile ruling
party. They must expect that every action would be subject to scrutiny,
dissection and critique by friends and foes alike. They must then sift wheat
from chaff with a wide dragnet to avail themselves of constructive thoughts in
every word, inference and even smear campaign.
To profit from Rev. Okotie’s peace
engagement, the ruling APC must balance power by looking into the benefits of
forming an all inclusive and representative government, which cuts across the
party spectrum, not a government populated by party loyalists, apologists and
political hangers-on, who always sing the praise of any and every crop of
leaders, but never offer the best counsel to government, especially where the
realities are at odds or contrary to the popular line of reasoning.
But when fifth columnists and
mercenary politicians, who have a long history of precipitating trouble to gain
advantage, go out of their way to make stability and the delivery of governance
services a difficult task, then their act of sabotage is not against a sitting
government, but against the people of the state. Government must then know when
to step up to check acts which will undermine the reign of peace across the
nation, because the wheels of government must be oiled with peace and stability
for progress and national development to fructify.
This is an all important ingredient
in bringing the primal beast of political insurrection under control. Nigerians
already bear too many psychological and emotional scars as a result of
polarized leadership and politicking. The new APC government needs to soft
pedal on the urge to fight every seeming affront and get on with the demands
and challenges of governance. They already have a full plate as it has become
obvious, and there is no time to be lost on frivolous battles.
To conceive the world that Nigerians
have structured for them, they need to interact with people at the grassroots
to get a feel of their needs and effect of their programmes, rather than via
rehearsed and guided feedback from politicians and cronies, otherwise they may
spend valuable time on white elephant projects which do little in alleviating
the plight and meeting the needs of the people. They need to distinguish between
what they want to do for the people and what are the wishes and needs of the
larger society.
Now, it is a new dawn, after 16
years of an endless journey in retrogression. Maybe we can experience a new
lease of life under the present leadership, who must stop being politicians and
become nationalists. But this will not happen automatically or overnight. It
will take several big and small steps, to first undo decades of economic and
political misadventure, and then begin to rebuild the different breaches that
have been made. Yet, it must begin somewhat.
It will require that the present
government first allay fears that have lingered in the conscious and
subconscious of Nigerians who have come to distrust politics and politicians
generally. These often neglected and seemingly inconsequentials are what add up
to destroying the foundations of trust and peace in the society.
As we enter another chapter of
Nigeria’s democratic story, clandestine negotiations, which fail to factor in
the effects for or against the polity, will not endure. The ‘change’ that has
begun cannot accommodate it.
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