It is evident to all who care to look well enough that our country is today at a critical historical juncture. Challenges that in regular climes and under normal circumstances should have been corporately addressed for the good of the land are now being further deepened and tossed up as elements in political brinkmanship. Our fault lines as a nation are being further cemented on the altar of partisan bickering. Yet, the nation goes on hurting; and our democratic institutions go on cranking under undue pressure.
Even so, I am so very well persuaded that if we manage to remain on this democratic governance track, warts and all, Nigeria has a good chance of living above its present challenges. It may indeed be on to creating an enduring and responsive system, to which the interest of our people, especially the weak and the disadvantaged, would be the singular concern. This is why, for me, perhaps the most critical task before us as a people today is to ensure the survival of our extant democracy project. It is in this broad context that we situate our current engagement in the Nigerian political firmament. It is also this that has made support to the emergent Goodluck Jonathan tendency in this same firmament quite imperative.
It is on record that soon after he became president, Dr. Jonathan made a public commitment to ensure that elections in our country become and remain free and fair. Of course, it is trite to aver that without a credible electoral process, Nigeria’s, and indeed, any country’s programme of democratization remains but a mere mirage. Four years on, and with at least four governorship elections held, it is evident that Mr. President has shown fidelity to his solemn commitment on clean elections. Notwithstanding the fact that his party was always a strong contender in all of the gubernatorial elections conducted under his watch, President Jonathan has kept his words.
Any doubt about the President’s democratic credentials, must have been sufficiently erased with the recent Osun State governorship election. Though the stakes were considered to be quite high, Mr. President, against all temptations, chose not to influence the process. He chose to keep his words. Thus, even when the President’s party lost the election, President Jonathan, as he is wont to do, was quick to congratulate the winner – a deliberate effort at entrenching a democratic culture. It was such profound a statement of commitment to democracy that we cannot and should not wish away even in the face of tempting partisan pressures.
Permit me to state that we have always supported the Jonathan Presidential project. In 2011, even from our LP platform, we endorsed, worked for and voted massively for him. This did not prevent us for working for LP candidates where it fielded candidates and in subsequent polls. With the 2015 INEC time table, which put Presidential and National Assembly elections on the same day, it has become obvious that the type of support we need to give President Jonathan without creating conflict of interest is better canalized through the President’s political party, the PDP.
Our support for the President will, in the light of the above, not jeopardize the legitimate electoral aspirations of our teeming supporters and associates.
More than this, President Jonathan’s intervention in critical sectors as contained in his Transformation Agenda is on track. For instance, the power sector reform is being pursued with such uncommon political will that a new breeze of investor confidence and some early results have Nigerians hope that the monster of power insufficiency that has contributed substantially to hold our progress captive is being tamed and may soon become history.
In the Agriculture sector, the Jonathan reform has been driven in the direction of diversification of our economic base with impressive early results – reduced food imports, increased investment in agriculture, both local and foreign and democratization of access to agric inputs. To achieve the latter goal, the Jonathan administration had to demolish one of the enduring citadels of corruption in our land – the fertilizer procurement/distribution system. This is a credible, evidence-based contribution to the fight against yet another monster, systemic corruption that has held our development hostage.