It was an emphatic “Yes” that the Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, received in the early hours of Thursday, December 11, 2014, from more than the required two-thirds of the delegates
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who had gathered at the
Eagle Square Abuja, to ratify his candidature as PDP’s flag bearer
in the February 14, 2015 presidential elections.
Free from the adversarial politics and rancorous spirits all too
evident across the channel in the opposition party’s convention in
Lagos, delegates of the ruling PDP were indeed in convivial mood
– with hugs, laughter and backslaps as they voted and confirmed
President Jonathan as their presidential candidate in the
forthcoming general elections.
Just like all good stories, the matter that started with an
overwhelming endorsement of President Jonathan by virtually all
the major organs of the PDP as the party’s flag bearer in 2015,
ended on a joyous note.
The peaceful and successful PDP Convention speaks eloquently to
how much the ruling party has learnt, and how deep the values of
presidential democracy have taken roots in the land. It also gives a
dizzying hint of how the personal charm of President Jonathan
have galvanised a party that a few months ago was virtually
written off as imploding and on the precipice.
The ruling PDP has once again shown its tenacity and unbelievable
ability to bounce back as a united and truly national party. Make no
mistakes about this; the emergence of President Jonathan as the
PDP presidential candidate without the usual bad blood that
follows the morning after the primaries has been a blessing for the
PDP.
Swiftly naming the President’s running mate has also put to bed
another potentially knotty problem. There have been some reports
of scheming to drop the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, for a new
running mate. By announcing that he will run again with his ever
loyal deputy, Sambo, in 2015, Jonathan has shown again that he is
a man that believes in, and rewards loyalty.
A Jonathan and PDP’s victory will mean that there will be no major
policy reversals and that new initiatives can build on the
foundations that have been laid in areas of success. This is the
advantage of continuity and stability.
It will be unlikely that the Nigerian voter who has seen several
thousand of kilometres of roads tarred in the past three years
under Jonathan would cast a vote for the reversal of this good
fortune and return to the days when our roads were highways to
the land of no return.
Another area in which Nigerians will benefit from continuity and
stability when President Jonathan is re-elected is the
diversification of the economy through agriculture. For so long,
past governments, both military and civilian, have been paying lip-
service to the problem of the mono-cultural economy of Nigeria as
a cheap deliverer of crude oil to the developed world.
Apart from the laudable commitment of this government to the
policy of saving for the ‘rainy day’, Jonathan has embarked on an
irreversible policy of transforming agriculture from the subsistence
drudgery it has been over the years to a profitable business
engendering food security and farmer prosperity.
Today, Nigeria is set to transform from being the biggest importer
of rice in West Africa to the biggest exporter of the commodity in
Africa. Even private individuals and groups are publicly testifying to
the quiet revolution on-going in the Agriculture sector under
Jonathan.
The emergence of the former military dictator, General
Muhammadu Buhari, as the APC presidential candidate, has placed
human rights and civil liberties as a major issue in the choice of a
leader, given the General’s unrepentant record of severe and deadly
breaches of human rights during his military regime.
Human rights community
Nigeria has made significant progress in the area of free speech
and personal liberties since, and the thought of another Buhari
presidency is already sending chills and shivers down the spines of
citizens, civil liberties organisations and the human rights
community in general. For many Nigerians, Jonathan has been
most tolerant of criticisms and opposing ideas; in fact, he has
continued to encourage citizens to speak out as part of their
inalienable rights under the Constitution by assuring them that
under his watch, no one will be sent to jail, exiled or murdered for
expressing his/her opinions as has been witnessed in Nigeria
previously.
Finally, the PDP argues that the choice before Nigeria is a choice
between yesterday and tomorrow, a choice between advancing or
reversing. Its position is: we must not hire yesterday’s man to
resolve tomorrow’s problems. That will not be salutary to the
narrative of stability which Jonathan’s candidature offers.
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