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Back home, there was nothing black and white about the colourful reception accorded His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on the 29th of May after he had handed over power as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I wasn’t there. I saw the pictures, and the videos though. I was told about the emotions that flowed and the resulting tears. I wanted to be moved too. I wasn’t. As a patriotic Ijawman, I feel like I should apologise for this. But I cannot help but feel that when you consider the Presidency of Goodluck Jonathan through the lenses of all the States in the Federation, a majority of States, particularly from other geopolitical zones should be rolling out the red carpet before Bayelsa, where very little has changed following this presidency. The presidency is over now. The logic now, I guess, is that if he no longer belongs to everybody, we cannot afford to create the impression that he belongs to nobody too. Sounds worthwhile. ________________________________________________________________________________________


29th May: The date of my birth and of the birth of democracy in Nigeria; a trivial serendipity , no doubt. But since 1999, my birthday has become a cause for deep reflection, no thanks to the latter fact. It is perhaps safe to say that this year stands tall in terms of significance in the sixteen years since ’99.

For a couple of months now, we have known of the impending change in Nigeria. On Friday it was confirmed and set on its path. I awaited the inaugural speech. It would be the first signpost for change. I listened to it eagerly. I was underwhelmed. I felt very little, when for the first time in a long time I longed to feel more. So I downloaded the speech. Read it through, still nothing, except of course the Julius Caesar quote at the end. That’s probably due to my love for literature than anything else.

That the command centre of the military would be moved to Maiduguri or that the Amnesty Programme in the Niger Delta would end or or see reinvestment in December, whichever it really was, also failed to inspire me. And I really wanted to be inspired. At the end, I just laid on my bed, thoughtless. I checked social media and realised I had missed a now-famous quote in the speech: “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody“.

Belonging to everybody was also the central theme of Sepp Blatter’s inaugural speech as he was re-elected for a fifth term as Fifa president, also on the 29th of May; the coincidence, the synchronicity is almost beyond poetic. Belonging to everybody and nobody at the same time is surely a good thing, particularly in the context of democratic governance. The powers that be in football, especially before Blatter and Blatter’s predecessor would not agree though.

Read More at www.sayelbatimes.com/buhari-and-blatter-reflecting-on-the-philosophy-of-belonging-to-everyone-on-the-most-significant-29th-may-yet-by-matthew-ayibakuro/ © Sayelba Times

Ok.