The reasons for the multifarious attitudes of the various groups of Nigerians to the fast-approaching hand-over/take-over of power scheduled to take place on the 29th of this month are abundantly clear. The more the citizens come face to face with the date, the more apparent their varying notions and resultant diverse interpretations of its political and historical significance to their lives.
Since May 29 of the year 1999 when democracy was restored to the country with the inauguration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the president, there have always been issues about the date to the extent that both the quality and the future of democratic governance are continuously analyzed in the context of the promises it appeared to have held for the country. All the six May 29s that Nigeria has had in the last 24 years had been moments of recollections, reflections, projections and admonitions, all of which birthed some patriotic aspirations in the citizens.
Just like the past ones, the forthcoming May 29, even with the huge reservation being entertained by some pessimists, is a significant date to which the citizens eagerly look up with a lot of expectations. Having experienced the 16-year rule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that was made up of the tenures of three presidents—Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Good luck Ebele Jonathan—and now an eight-year administration under President Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the country has adequately tasted the two biggest parties.
As another May 29 on which another president also produced by the APC shall take over power approaches, it is legitimate to conduct a thorough analysis of the diverse attitudes of Nigerians to the forthcoming event. The electioneering, which culminated in the victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was a process that necessitated the adoption of varied postures by the people over the prolonged and cut-throat competition for power among the parties and their respective candidates.
As two sides of the same coin, the victory of some of the contestants and the defeat of the several others are correspondingly the two realities that have satisfied a lot of yearnings as well as re-enforced some hopes and dashed others. The celebration of the victory by the winners of the presidential election on the one hand as well as the clear expression of dissatisfaction as evident in the on-going litigations over the result of the election initiated by the losers with the support of their sympathizers on the other hand are manifestations of the inner feelings of the citizens about the entire process.
Therefore, while the forthcoming May 29 is to some Nigerians a date or moment of fulfilment of hope, it also represents the beginning of a severe grief for a lot of the other people. It all depends on which of the faces of the date that stares at any particular individual or group or, more precisely, which side of the outcome of the result of the election that is the reality for any interest group.
The two conflicting realities which have elicited all the diverse reactions are a monumental challenge more for the winners than for the losers. As participants in the process who have eventually become winners, they are duly required to begin to treat all the injuries that, within the entire period of the exercise, have been inflicted on the people.
The wide complaints over both the nature and the outcome of the election, as totally baseless as a lot of them are, have already constituted a huge part of the challenge that the in-coming government must have to rapidly address. Both within the courts where the losers’ litigations are being treated and outside of them where opinions are being seriously shaped and re-shaped, there is the complete need for diligence in the defence of the victory.
Moreover, alongside the complaints are the numerous valid expectations of all those who either faithfully worked for the victory or just celebrated it in one way or another, which will equally require the immediate and full attention of the next government. There can not be any other way in which they can justify the confidence reposed in them than a quick demonstration of determination to meet the needs of the people.
Generally, there are several challenges that have clearly emerged out of all the dispositions of the various groups of Nigerians to some critical national issues. The prevalence of threats to security, unity, stability and development of the country and the absolute need to effectively tackle them were, in the first place, the reasons for their election by the people.
Even with the fear in some quarters that the Tinubu-led federal government that shall come into existence on May 29, just like the out-going one under Buhari that is said to have performed dismally in a lot of areas, is a product of the APC, there is still the hope that the new team will learn from the past mistakes and consequently come up with practicable solutions to the problems that have been militating against the proper development of Nigeria. This, after all, is the particular face of the May 29 that is, as far as well-meaning citizens are concerned, most attractive.
The next dispensation in the current democratic governance is a critical phase of ‘The Nigeria Project’ that should be handled most carefully, especially considering the fact that the country has been a victim of a protracted neglect. All the tears and cracks in the fabrics of the nation need to be patched up by the next set of leaders so that at least they can have the peace they will desperately need to govern.
On their part, those citizens who have raised or are still raising dusts over either the outcome of the presidential election or some other sensitive issues should consider the compelling need for the exercise of caution in the pursuit of their demands. It makes a very little or even no sense at all for any group of advocates to insist that either all matters are settled in their favour or everything will be reduced to ashes.
This kind of insistence is a tendency of the troublemakers whose sense of patriotism is at a zero level. It is, in fact, a dominant attitude among some unrefined Nigerians with which a lot of past governments in the country have had to contend. Even the government that is about to be inaugurated must have to quickly commence a design of strategy for the control of such an ugly situation.
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