Nigeria will be the winner of the March 28 election

As many observers have noted, this particular contest has proved to be the most competitive ever in the history of our democratic presidential contests and has generated so much passion and consequently, brought that sense of Nigerianness out of many otherwise docile Nigerians. This is good because this is what will usher Nigeria into her […]

As many observers have noted, this particular contest has proved to be the most competitive ever in the history of our democratic presidential contests and has generated so much passion and consequently, brought that sense of Nigerianness out of many otherwise docile Nigerians. This is good because this is what will usher Nigeria into her greatness. In the past, we were too apathetic a people for comfort. That negative attitude of ours gave too much room for many, especially those in leadership positions, to do whatever they wanted. The result was that we were starkly facing a downward spiral heading towards a declivity. When a people are passionate about their country and take certain actions to prove it, those who are meant to superintend the affairs of the community will
inevitably be forced to sit up if they were not paying proper attention before.
The number two positive is that in spite of what looks like a sharp division of the people behind the two leading candidates along our usual fault lines of ethnicity, religion and region, that is not nearly so in reality. What I can see is that there are many influential and non-influential Christians, Southerners and non-Hausa-Fulani passionately supporting General Muhammadu Buhari just as there are many influential and non-influential Muslims, Northerners and non-Ijaws and non-Southern minority elements supporting President Goodluck Jonathan in equal measure. The motivation of those who are providing this bi-partisan, bi-regional, bi-religious support for these two candidates may not be all noble but the fact that such a mix multitude of support base exists for the two candidates is in itself very healthy for Mother Nigeria. It shows that we are now coming into full nationhood or on our way to it.
 Politics, I want to repeat, is a game of interest. Such a thing now demands that those who want a saintly Buhari must seek for people who share their belief wherever they are and join forces with them to fight and get what they want even if it means fighting against their own blood brothers and sisters who have a contrary opinion. Can you now see why I see the alignment of forces across the divides behind these men as a great positive for Nigeria? Again my prayer is that whatever the outcome of March 28 is, Nigerians should not retreat back to their old trenches of negative division.  We should resolve to look at candidates who come up for election strictly on the basis of what they represent to us and our interest not where they come from or what faith they profess.
My third, and perhaps most important positive, is the efforts at integration by the two major candidates. The image of Buhari, usually thought to be a stern, possibly intolerant Muslim ascetic, touring the states of Nigeria and wearing the dresses of people of other ethnic groups, is a very powerful and comforting and reassuring image. I particularly love Buhari in that suit and bow tie. He actually looks like a handsome young dude, who, if he has a mind for it, can actually chaik (chat) a young lass, promise her some sweet nothings, the kind of promises girls like to hear and she will fall!
In the course of the campaign for March 28, I watched an APC Women Rally in the South East where Buhari and Osinbajo’s wives were mixing freely with their fellow Ibo women. This was very heartening. I couldn’t help reflecting happily that if it were not for the good ways of democracy and its demand for accepting or tolerating the otherness of others,  how could a Buhari wife or an Osinbajo wife be doing with ‘’Inyamiri’’ or ‘’Kobokobo’’ women in the South East!  I equally like GEJ in that beautiful Kanuri flowing dress complete with their special kind of red cap.  Apart from the colour which the cross-cultural dressing by the two candidates added to the 2015 politicking, the greater significance lies in the attempt to affirm their full Nigerianness by the two men. Their message is not lost on ordinary Nigerians. We Nigerians have come a long way and have become so integrated that separation would not be an easy option.
I am equally happy about the staffing of the hierarchies of the two leading parties. Men and women of timber and calibre from across Nigeria are to be found in both the PDP and the APC which is why efforts to brand PDP a Christian party and APC a Muslim one have not quite succeeded.
It is given these three great positives that I think that whatever the outcome of the March 28 event, the ultimate winner will be Nigeria. Never again will things remain the same in terms of our governance and the attitude of those elected to govern. The active or robust participation of the people in the process will ensure that. For if Jonathan wins, he is surely going to up his game. The manner Nigerians spoke to him without fear that they are not entirely satisfied with his level of performance and openly said they will like to try someone else will make him sit up. He will have a cabinet of the bright and the brightest. He will think more Nigerian because he will fear the verdict of history.
If Buhari wins, he will be acutely aware of the damning verdict passed on his immediate predecessor and would not like to surrender to any Northern irredentist cabal as many in the South fear. None wants to be judged harshly by history. And a man in his seventies like Buahari will not like to fear man but God and history.
My prayer is that if Buhari wins, the North should not in their words or action claim his victory as the triumph of the much trumpeted Northern political sagacity. Such would be a misreading of what would have just taken place. It is disaffection of Nigerians from across the country coupled with the astuteness, commitment and enlightened self-interest of the battle tested political gladiators of the South-West led by Tinubu that would have made his victory possible.