The 2015 presidential election globally adjudged to be credible, free and fair has come and gone. It has automatically become history for posterity and record purposes. We should therefore by now put the past behind us and forge ahead focusing on the handful of significant promises the future holds for all of us as a people. However, the ongoing tendency whereby some individuals are erroneously being held responsible or made scapegoats prompted the need to evaluate the immediate and remote causes of the avoidable loss.
A falling adult looks back to see the cause of a fall, according to a popular adage. The motive behind looking back, unlike a child who looks at the front, is for the adult to ensure the same thing does not cause his falling next time. Similarly, a clever student who fails an examination will go over and over studying diligently, fishing out where they had got things wrong or messed up. This allows for appropriate corrective measures in future examinations. From the remote cause perspective, the Peoples Democratic Party, perhaps, because of its perceived dominance in size and structure, became rather complacent. This view was demonstrated by statements from some of its stalwarts like the “PDP will rule forever”; “It will rule for 60 years”, “Mark will become the Methuselah of the National Assembly” etc. Such statements of pride and arrogance are indeed abominable and unbecoming and failed to accord recognition to the Supreme Being as the sole determinant of success in any human endeavour. The PDP did not do enough to pacify and appeal to aggrieved members of the party. The unpalatable consequence of that was the spate of massive deflections being witnessed prior to and after the elections. This perhaps might have explained what the PDP National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, sometime ago described as the gross injustice perpetrated within the party.
Under the PDP government, there appears not to be correlation or direct relationship between the claimed economic growth and economic development, the latter of which relates to the standard of living and quality of life of the citizens. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. Dissatisfied and highly impoverished people therefore anticipated and prayed for a change which culminated into massive votes in favour of the All Progressives Congress.
On the immediate causes, rather than independently assess his performance ratings and of course popularity from comments and pieces of advice from the led through the electronic and print media, President Goodluck Jonathan, in his apparent gentleman manner, relied solely on “You are doing well” pronouncements from lying mouths of aides around him. Unknown to him however, most people around him are camouflaging sycophants with insidious intentions. The South-West feels obviously marginalised under the Jonathan government. Little wonder why the eleventh hour money or you may call it dollar-rain to the electorate in the region was viewed as medicine after death which turned out to be of no effect. In fact, people of the region were displeased with the thought that with money, their conscience could easily be bought over. While I personally would not support absolute godfatherism, the sour relationship the President had with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo over the years was a gross miscalculation. It is indeed not difficult to conclude Obasanjo’s influence still carries weight in Nigeria and even global politics as of today.
Matthew Adeleye, Ota, Ogun State
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