The power of willpower

Also published in Daily Trust

Before I comment on Muhammdu Buhari’s election victory in the recently concluded presidential election, which signified the triumph of the collective willpower of the electorate over the power of incumbency, I would like to comment on a similar willpower, which the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan had unpredictably summoned up, which also enabled him to conquer his own pride and concede defeat in the election even before the final vote tally was officially announced, of course after it had become obvious that he was unavoidably losing it.

Like the majority of Nigerians, I rejoiced at President Jonathan’s election defeat; in fact I had admittedly decided to write this column gloatingly about his defeat in view of the sheer amount of his frantic efforts to cling to power after 29 May 2015. I however changed my mind following his surprising display of sense of responsibility (in this regard) by conceding defeat and congratulating his political rival, Muhammadu Buhari for winning the election.

Obviously, President Jonathan’s action, which is quite uncommon in developing democracies especially in Africa, defused tension and widespread worries that he might orchestrate the disruption of the process of announcing the result midway, which could have aggravated the tension and probably triggered a devastating post-election violence.

Besides, those worries had further escalated when former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe actually attempted to disrupt the process of announcing the election results from various states of the federation, by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.

Many Nigerians had understandably suspected that the former minister was actually executing a carefully schemed plot by some powerful elements including the President designed to cause chaos and confusion in order to derail the whole exercise and pave the way for themselves to scuttle the whole process, buy time so as to get rid of the Commission’s Chairman and eventually manipulate the process in their favour.

However, President Jonathan’s timely concession of defeat dispelled all those suspicions and worries as it also neutralized any plot being probably plotted by the consequently shocked vested interests hell-bent on undermining the process at any cost.

Certainly, in view of his desperate misconduct at the ICC, Elder Godsday Orubebe’s involvement in such a plot can’t be ruled out, especially considering his subsequent expression of regret and apology to Nigerians following President Jonathan’s concession of defeat, which denied the Orubebes the chance to execute their selfish agenda, for they realized that it would make no sense at all since the President himself had already conceded defeat.

Though some Nigerians believe that the outgoing President Jonathan does not deserve any commendation since he actually conceded defeat presumably after he had exhausted all his plans and strategies to perpetrate election rigging massive enough to enable him to win it, I believe he actually deserves it in any case and regardless of whether he conceded it out of irresistible pressure or not, and also whether he will later contest the election result in court or not, as some people still insinuate.

One simply needs to recollect the past experiences of post-election violence and the sheer number of lives and properties lost across the country, the sheer fragility of the situation and the high risk of the eruption of similar or even worse post-election crises at that particular situation, to appreciate the significance of President Jonathan’s timely and highly responsible decision to concede defeat.

Besides, many megalomaniac and power-obsessed leaders in Africa and elsewhere have caused preventable bloody crises in their respective countries for their refusal to concede election defeat and their instance to cling to power at all costs.

Anyway, now back to Nigerians’ collective willpower that successfully resisted President Jonathan’s desperate political manoeuvres to hang onto power. It was obvious that, Nigerians were largely able to reject and neutralize the unprecedented manipulation of ethno-religious, regional and other prejudices, which the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan had desperately exploited in his re-election campaign bid. 

Similarly, the strength of Nigerians’ willpower was the motivation behind their largely peaceful insistence to closely monitor the entire voting process starting from voter accreditation, voting process, ballot paper collation and announcement of results at all levels in what is commonly known as akasa, atsare, araka, ajira.

In Bauchi state for instance, people successfully defied an obviously unwarranted and politically motivated imposition of curfew in the state, and held an all-night vigil outside the INEC state headquarters to ensure that the election results were not tempered with.

By the way, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its Chairman in particular also deserve special recognition having certainly summoned up willpower so strong that they were able to resist temptations, intimidations and pressure they were evidently subjected to in the course of their duty.

This time around and having managed to plug many major operational loopholes through which massive election rigging had always been committed in the country, Professor Jega has laid a solid foundation for the establishment of the culture of transparent and credible election in the country, which will certainly bring about sustainable peace hence sustainable socio-political stability and economic development.

Moreover, now that hope in our national endeavour has been restored following the election victory of Muhammad Buhari, the need to sustain this willpower has never been more imperative, because an enabling atmosphere to pursue and achieve a comprehensive reform in the country has been created.