Yes, Nigeria is the Winner!

 This is one occasion when it would not amount to indulgence in cliché to say that history is made.  For obvious reasons, the significance of the conclusion of the 2015 presidential election will resonate with not a few Nigerians across the political spectrum for many years to come. The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) this morning declared the candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, the winner of the election. Even before the formal declaration, President Goodluck   Jonathan swiftly wrote his name positively into history yesterday evening by calling to congratulate Buhari on the victory.  Now, such events had never happened in Nigerian history before yesterday. Yes, Buhari has won fair and square; but the import of the victory is larger than Buhari and APC.
 It is more significantly a victory for Nigeria in its experiment with liberal democracy. And this is no platitude. You would appreciate the point being made here if you imagine the opposite of what happened.  At the end of the contest, both the winner and loser are receiving congratulations.  It is unusual. This is simply because instead of fears of tears and anguish, a ray of hope of peace and progress could be seen on the national horizon. By the way, this victory for liberal democracy has been consistently canvassed in this column in the last few months.

The resonance of what happened yesterday would be better imagined when situated in the proper historical context. Since 1951, parties under the progressive banner had struggled unsuccessfully to gain power at the centre. It was as if any party that professed progressivism was jinxed as far as being in power at the centre was concerned. It must be stressed that names and slogans are never enough to give a party progressive content. Even then, the experience has been that no party or coalition of parties with a   progressive label had ever won power at the centre.  Progressive parties organised mergers and alliances during the First and Second Republics, but such efforts never got them into power for different reasons. So for the first time, the victory of APC will open the door of power at the centre to a progressive party.  That in itself   makes the historic dimension of the victory undeniable.

In another dimension, for the first time a party in opposition defeated a party in power in a keenly contested election. The APC is to replace on May 29 the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the party in power since 1999.   This is, therefore, not a moment for hubris. It is rather a moment to display sobriety of purpose and a clear proof of the emerging political maturity. It is in this context that the immediate concession   by Jonathan is a loud statement that Nigeria is coming into the age of political maturity. Jonathan richly deserves all the praises that have been pouring into Aso Rock since yesterday. By sheer force of example, he has shown that elections are not warfare in which bullets take the place of ballots and blood the place of banters. Jonathan by that call has shown that elections are festivals of democracy.

So, with such a conclusive presidential election, those who predicted Armageddon after the election might have been proved wrong. Similarly, those who allegedly prophesied that Nigeria would disintegrate in 2015 under the weight of a political crisis might have been put to lie. So far, there have been reports of street jubilations and victory parties. By his statesmanlike action, Jonathan has raised the hope that this election will not be followed by violence. This is good news for the nation. Nigerians should be proud of this development. The verdict of history would be immensely kind to Jonathan on this score.

Consequently, the dynamics in the polity have   changed.  On the one hand, the PDP will now have to learn how to be a formidable party in opposition. It will, of course, have to become an organic party to be able to perform that important role in the development of liberal democracy in Nigeria. On the other hand, the APC will also have to quickly bolster its capacity to govern as a progressive party at the centre.

To achieve this, the party will need to cement its progressive content. A lot of synthesis will have to take place in organisation and programme.  After all, now is the hard part. The APC will have to answer in practice the question: what does it mean for progressives to be in power at the centre?   Universally, there are some policy directions expected of progressive parties in power. The case of APC would not be an exception. This is a point that a Buhari administration should be constantly reminded about in the next four years.  Both Jonathan and Buhari would be expected to give leadership in the directions of their respective parties.  The issues in this change of dynamics are worth pondering in the course of the imminent transition that the election of Buhari has engendered.

Expectedly, in the coming days pundits are bound to draw attention to lessons (or what Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos has popularised as  “takeaways”) from the election of Buhari. And the lessons are legion. Prominent among them is the lesson for the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC).  In more immediate terms INEC should draw lessons from the technical lapses reported in the presidential and National Assembly elections and improve on its performance in the April 11 elections of governors and state legislators. Beyond that, INEC should strive for institutional development to meet the challenges of future elections. It should learn to use technology to improve efficiency and quality of delivery.

No one expects a perfect election; but scary developments reported in some states have shown that a lot of work has to be done to improve the electoral process. Scores of lives were lost. Allegations of brazen manipulations of the process in many places are still pending. Meanwhile, the INEC’s Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, whose tenure will expire in a few months, should be saluted for his leadership of the commission at this time.  He is a study in courage of conviction while remaining exemplarily calm under pressure and provocation. Whatever technical deficits there are in INEC’s operations have been made up for by   the integrity of Jega.

The professor is a pride to his social and intellectual pedigree. The factor of Jega at this historical conjecture would be better appreciated when you remember that in the past things went terribly wrong because such a factor was hugely absent.
The foreign observers, the civil society organisations, international bodies and indeed the international community   should be commended for their roles for the process. The material and moral support for many organisations and countries have been remarkable in the process.

Jonathan has been statesmanlike in defeat; Buhari should also be magnanimous in victory. This is more so that the victory has enormous implications for the political health of the country. The tones of the campaigns were bitter. The voting pattern has been   clearly divisive. Only a deliberately integrative leader can win the confidence of the whole country in this circumstance.  Buhari owes history the debt of   offering   leadership in uniting   the country for progress at this time. He should be a leader for national integration and never for exclusion.  He should a lay a foundation for politics of issues and ideas.

The foundation we are talking about here should be such that future elections would be fought on issues that appeal to people horizontally. These are issues that would appeal to any man in Daura and his compatriot in Otuoke in equal measures. They are issues involved in the struggle for freedom from hunger, disease and ignorance. Progressive policies should be deployed to   move   politics away from vertical divisions of ethnicity, regions and religions. This is one of the challenges before the expected Buhari presidency.
For no one can deny that this land needs healing.