Statesmanship: Like Jonathan, like Buhari

IN 2015, while fanatics of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Orubebe were busy attempting to disrupt collation of results from states, the person they were fighting for and former President Goodluck Jonathan found it very necessary to ease the political tension by congratulating on phone his victorious opposition candidate. While Jonathan’s men could still not understand the spirit that pushed him to do that, that singular action has endeared him to Nigerian citizens and the international community.

One dead as container falls on two cars in Lagos

Before the election, Jonathan had reiterated that his political ambition was not worth the blood of any Nigerian citizen. That was the spirit of true patriotism; the spirit of love and humanity. I think this spirit links both contemporary politicians and leaders of Nigeria, Jonathan and Buhari, the latter who has reiterated that he will accept the decisions of Nigerians in the forthcoming 2019 general election, especially the Presidential polls of February 16, 2019.

I personally admire Jonathan for that action. Jonathan never regretted his action. Rather he has been proud of it; boasting of it everywhere he goes and whenever he speaks to people. He believed that Nigeria’s enemies were defeated.  I hope that Nigerian politicians will imbibe this spirit and eschew the spirit of “do or die” politics. The political situation in 2015 was very tense, indeed. The level of hate speech was unprecedented. But Nigerians were free and associated with their chosen parties and candidates.

Observations and reactions from feelers portray that the situation is not tense ahead of 2019 and hate speech is not pervading the air. Nigerians are freely associating with their candidates. The incumbent President Buhari is not showing any sign of desperation, thus the needless call for heating up the politics. I pray that the political situation will remain so and that no Nigerian will be killed or forced to die for the cause of the elections.

Jonathan placed national interest ahead of personal ambition; that is why there was smooth transition. In short, despite his show of statesmanship by accepting defeat, there were speculations that his men would have scuttled the handover processes. He stood his ground as the leader of his party and ensured that Buhari was sworn-in, despite controversies that ensued afterwards.

One of the instruments for the smooth transition in 2015 was the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by all the presidential candidates. This is a good move. But as I have always maintained, Buhari is a trustworthy patriot who always put the nation above self. He will do better. There are assurances that the 2019 general elections will be freer and fairer than ever before. Therefore, with or without signing any pact, he will ensure smooth elections and transition in 2019, hitch-free handovers to democratically elected officers.

I join millions of Nigerian patriots to hail him for not accenting to faulty electoral bill. He must remain focused to deliver credible polls in 2019 but he must not be cowed by the selfish interests of anti-democrats who are attempting to create lampoons in the electoral act in the name of amendment.

• Muhammad Ajah,

Abuja.