Don’t blame Buhari if he loses

There have been reports of many non-northerners fleeing the north out of fear that if Jonathan wins, the north will go up in flames against especially non- northerners. There is the palpable fear that Northern youth would go on the rampage, kill, maim and destroy the property of ‘’strangers’’ in the region. No serious efforts […]

There have been reports of many non-northerners fleeing the north out of fear that if Jonathan wins, the north will go up in flames against especially non- northerners. There is the palpable fear that Northern youth would go on the rampage, kill, maim and destroy the property of ‘’strangers’’ in the region. No serious efforts have been made by wise and reasonable elders from that region to dispel that type of fear or even the rumours of it. Silence or tame responses over such matters is often interpreted as meaning acquiescence.
Beyond these two, when any northern elite, be he an intellectual, a politician of some weight or businessman, is seen to be supporting Jonathan, he is abused and threatened and condemned as a betrayer of the northern cause. They do not seem to consider southern elites who are supporting Buhari. My compatriots from the north who behave like this are grossly unfair to someone like Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who seems to have abandoned all and appears ready to sacrifice his all in support of Buhari. They prepare the ground for Amaechi’s people to call him a fool for abandoning his own ‘brother’ to support a ‘stranger’. Surely, the overbearing zealotry of some of Buhari’s supporters send a wrong signal that may be we are not on the same page about Nigeria.
The way some clearly misguided individuals and groups in the north are acting and speaking as if they see the 2015 contest basically as a fight for sectional ascendancy and not a contest for a better Nigeria may touch the wrong chord that could swing the mood of non-northerners who are honestly and genuinely supporting Buhari because they think he will make a good president.  A week, it is said, is a long time in politics. And we still have about three weeks to the March 28 election, an awfully long time in a polity where mood swings can be as unpredictable as the British weather. Ardent but irrational Buhari supporters should be warned that any small but outrageous statement or action can easily cost their man victory.
I always want to believe that we Nigerians have a responsibility to think of this country as one that should be developed and enriched by our collective talents and expertise for the benefit of all who live in it. Whatever we may think, Nigeria has become a project too big for appropriation by only one section. All my work as a commentator is informed by this belief. Sadly, some carry on as if we can only succeed if they are seen as owning the place.
I think that by now we should see the futility or foolishness of seeing things from the ethnic, regional or religious angles. Given the type of system of government we have adopted, no single ethnic, religious or regional block can win the presidency without the support of others. It is simply not possible. We must reconcile ourselves to this fact and begin to behave more responsibly and reasonably.
The truth is that there are many convincing arguments that can be advanced in favour of either Buhari or Jonathan getting the presidency on March 28.  It depends on which side you stand or how you look at issues at stake. No one side, especially the North, should campaign as if it has a better claim for the 2015 presidency. I say especially the North because that region in all honesty cannot claim that it has been politically marginalized. Not when it has dominated national politics for so long since independence. The approach to getting a Northerner to national leadership again should not be seen as a do-or-die matter to restore the region to political pre-eminence again but because the people feel that in Buhari they have a very good candidate who will make Nigeria good not only for northerners but for ALL Nigerians
I know that many southerners are passionate in Buhari’s support because they think he approximates the national yearning for a change. But if some northerners want to ‘own’ him as theirs and his victory as the dividends of their fight, then it will discourage others from supporting Buhari. The question some would be asking themselves is that if northerners are behaving like this even when Buhari has not won what will happen if he wins? This will cause many to begin to have a change of mind.
There are some commentators who have noted that it will take one terrible gaffe from the camp of the two parties to swing victory to the other side. From what I can see, any major gaffe from the north which gives the impression that what some are thinking about Buhari is not what some northerners are thinking about him will deny him victory. Some of us do not think that the 2015 presidential election is about one group, region or religion grabbing power in order to use it to capture the national purse, corner political, economic, bureaucratic and other advantages to that group, region or religion. Nigeria has gone beyond that.
There are some of us who are passionately pro-Nigeria. We feel that we must accept what destiny has done by bringing us together and decide to chart a course that will make Nigeria become a developed entity where everyone can find fulfilment. Ethnic, religious or regional chauvinism will not take us anywhere.