I will vote for Mr. Goodluck Jonathan not because of his presidential campaign or his promises but simply because amongst the field of all the candidates in the race he has shown a character and demeanour that is truly presidential and very unflappable.
Any other candidate of his generation and of a modest background could have crumbled in the face of the armada of opposition that gathered against him shortly after he took office. He refused to do the bidding of the Save Nigeria Group types and the professional activists and protesters.There seems to be some real hard steel and coolness in this fellow that carries him through some extraordinary amalgamation of people and circumstances.
At first they said he is not up to the job and then they said he has compromised too much.; They also said that he is Obasanjo’s lackey. Basically their accusation is that he lacks the steely resolve to make things happen.
A friend of mine trying to label Jonathan as not strong tried to contrast by explaining how Margaret Thatcher the British PM changed governance in the UK permanently by transferring the national economy from a mixed economy government led one to private sector driven.
My friend goes on to say that the then PM stood up to the unions, broke down their resolve just to let people know she meant business and of course all those changes transformed the UK economy and governance for better. But I then mentioned Manmohan Singh the current PM of India who has transformed India within a decade but has used a more consensual and persuasive approach.
My friend is still thinking I am sure he will vote for Jonathan too!
Mr. Jonathan realized that he needs a strong national party machine to win an election and that was why he has carefully taken control of the PDP machine without bulldozing his way on everything and everyone like Mr. Obasanjo. But regardless of what anyone will say the result of the National Assembly elections clearly showed that Jonathan can win votes in most parts of the country.
Were it not for the local PDP’s suicide in Ogun State the party might have retained that state.
Following the unfortunate death of Mr. Umaru Shehu Y'aradua, the professional protesters and activists tried to hijack his agenda, yet he carefully listened to them took some of their advice but jettisoned their approach. Some of these people screamed blue murder and called him all sorts of names and some of them abandoned him and joined other parties and candidates. His reason was that Nigeria has so many different constituencies and we must have a way of carrying along as many of these constituencies on board even without agreeing with all of them. Mr. Jonathan, it seems to me believes a common ground must be found to ensure that extreme elements do not wreck the nation state. This singular move shows a cool careful operator who can be trusted to manage Nigeria’s tapestry of interests and agitations.
Nigeria needs a canny careful listener who balances all decisions carefully and in most cases takes the long term view with reasonable speed. Mr. Jonathan in my view will use all the powers that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria affords him but will not dance on the graves of his adversaries. This is poignant because as President he will serve all our interests and not just of his supporters.
A majority of the failures of this republic so far, stems from political machismo and playing to the gallery by the so-called military strongmen who in their so-called ‘purges’ and ‘immediate effect’ decisions wrecked our country for a generation by the systematic destruction of our priced civil service and national institutions .
In my view, it is acceptable, for a president to listen to all but then he or she must make a decision that will abide over time no matter the circumstances or pressures and do it with reasonable speed. That is the difference between a technocrat and a leader of all the people. Jonathan, as I am reading him is becoming a leader of all the people.
The PDP juggernaut unleashed all its key monsters, all of whom wanted to be president were hiding behind the zoning argument. Even at the last minute of the primaries they were plotting and counter-plotting, but carefully and quietly he managed to side-step all their banana skins and trumped them at the primaries.
Since the primaries, he has brought all men and women of good will within his own party and others to support his course while a few of his own party members are still plotting his downfall. The man has almost ignored these so called party ‘faithfuls’. Who in other times would have been suspended or expelled for anti-party activities.
His prospect of winning the presidency is brighter today because of his character personality truly reflects that of the majority without a military background, without inherited wealth or an inherited power-base from birth; when he gets elected he will be the first representative Nigerian president who has truly worked his way to the top job and of course touched by divine circumstance has attained it.
So I will vote for Goodluck Jonathan because he has demonstrated that he can use the awesome power of the office of president for the good of all our people not just to favour people of one faith, one persuasion or one ethnic background unduly over the other. He will be the president for all!
I will vote for him because he has shown that he will not throw our country into confusion like some did in the past by not listening to the opinions of the governed.
I will vote for him because he will have the mandate for transformation and this should give him the resoluteness to breakdown the strong holds of poverty and economic underdevelopment within our country. He can be trusted to make decisions that will not be popular sometimes but will be good for all the citizenry in the future.
I will vote for him because he has not suspended the constitution of Nigeria at any time.
I will vote for him because has not left us with a legacy of Abacha and IBB like his main rival did by perpetrating a coup against the nation state! Nothing good came out of the coup of 1983! All we got for it was the trauma of an IBB’s maradonic jiggery pokery and of course Sani Abacha’s extraordinary kleptomania.
I will appeal to all men and women who truly mean well for our country and the future generations to resist being used to ferment trouble in the name of post- election protests.
We have all agreed that democracy is the right way to govern our country and we all believe that the elections so far as conducted by Mr. Jega is the best we have seen in a long time. So let’s resist any attempt to cause a breakdown of law and order. It is Mr. Jonathan’s chance to lead all our people so let’s follow him in good faith.
Edwin Moore Momife writes from Lagos, Nigeria
