[size=14pt]Dawn of a new era in Nigerian politics?[/size]
On May 3, 2011 · · In News
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By Rotimi Fasan
IF there is one thing that is becoming obvious from the outcome of the recently concluded series of national elections, it is the fact that Nigeria might be on the threshold of a new political era.

More than anything else, perhaps, this new development has much to do with the emergence of Goodluck Jonathan and the manner of his emergence.

In more senses than one, Jonathan was, until, a few years ago an outsider to the inner sanctuary of Nigerian politics. He is also a relative newcomer to politics.

His underdog status through the period of his rise from the deputy governorship of little Bayelsa State, to the governorship, vice presidency and finally presidency, and the fact of his ‘minority’ status all conspired to place him at the mercy of certain forces and individuals that sought to direct the course of his activities as a politician.

He was understandably diffident in his ways and in the main lacks the domineering and ‘as-of-right’ attitude to power of such long term initiates of power like Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari whose loss at the latest polls is fast turning him into a champion of sectional politics despite his desire to be president of one Nigeria.

Just as the untimely and unexpected passing of President Umaru Yar’Adua presented Nigeria with the fait accompli of a president from a minority section of the country, that same fact made it impossible for Jonathan to act like the conqueror of their own people that some Nigerian leaders had become.

This is working for the good of the entire country and has been reflected in the 2011 elections in which, unlike, in the 2003 and 2007 elections one party, under the dominance of a domineering leader, swept the stakes in a brazen attempt to turn the country into a one-party state. Then the electoral officers fell over one another anticipating every wish of President Obasanjo and that of his party, the PDP.

Today, the PDP is still the dominant party in the country but that dominance has been seriously whittled down and moderated in a manner that should prove instructive to those among its members able to hold on to their seats after the licking that came their way in this year’s elections. And unlike in the past when the party existed under the looming image of Obasanjo, there is nobody with such domineering influence any more in the party.

Even if Obasanjo tries to throw his weight around, the loss suffered by many of his lieutenants including his favourite daughter, Iyabo, should be humbling enough to make him shed his hectoring ways.

Beyond the internal intrigues of PDP politics, there is something Obasanjo ought to take from the reversals in the fortunes of the PDP in the Yoruba West, to wit, that his eight-year stay in power has left no significant impact in the politics of the region.

Neither has it served to change the hostile impression of the people, apparently, to Obasanjo’s politics, if not his person. What many are likely to remember him for would be his desire to impose his ‘kill-and-go’, winner-takes-all politics on the people, acting as if his personal wishes should be the wish of the majority of the people.

Given its ‘national’ spread, the PDP stands in a position to bring positive changes to Nigeria if its members eschew the selfish motive that presently binds them together. Now the ACN has emerged the dominant party in the West and with it, Bola Tinubu as the major power house of the region, the people of the West must be watchful not to replace one domineering politician with another.

To Bola Tinubu, mainly, Western Nigerians owe the trouncing of Obasanjo but given the tussle orchestrated by both him and his supporters who wanted to put a rein on the actions of Raji Fashola, the re-elected Governor of Lagos, before wisdom prevailed, the region should be careful how it promotes the wishes of one man, even one such as Tinubu that worked for the dethronement of a party that many had never really cared much about given the less-than-useful policies of its promoters in the region.

Members of the old Alliance for Democracy in the West who may probably now see themselves as the power behind the throne should learn to stay back and allow the new people on the saddle do what they were elected for.

They have had their time and could do worse than giving more than elderly words of advice to the new politicians. Some of them thought to entrench themselves through their children but the defeat suffered by these children should be warning to them that people are not keen on sustaining a dynasty of whatever hue or shape.

In the North where the irresponsible utterances of certain individuals seem to be fuelling the emotional outbursts with which some misdirected people of the region have reacted to the defeat of Buhari, a new class of politicians have risen to displace the known names of old.

Ibrahim Shekarau and Nuhu Ribadu are politicians whose recent emergence should be seen as some kind of introduction to the larger Nigerian electorate hitherto unaware of their credentials. There are other such Nigerians in different parts of the country.

Fashola, at the completion of his second term, should proudly take his place in the rank of the new class of politicians. The Buharis and Babangidas, to say nothing of some of the political dinosaurs from older dispensations in the Northern region, have had their day in the sun and should now leave the stage for younger successors who have the task of steering the fortunes of their region to a new beginning.

In the East, the picture is not yet so clear but even here too it is apparent that the new masters of the game are the younger elements that have risen to replace the Emmanuel Iwuanyanwus, the Nwobodos and Odumegwu Ojukwus.

Perhaps the likes of Chris Ngige are the leaders of the new class of politicians. And despite her narrow loss to Ngige, Dora Akunyili shouldn’t be shy of being counted among the new face of politics in the East. She’s had her baptism of fire and could only rise, not succumb to the despair of defeat.

Whatever the South-South has in store would be seen in how Goodluck Jonathan manages things in the next four years during which many Nigerians expect to see the true character of their president-elect. In all, the future looks different and beckons with much hope.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/05/dawn-of-a-new-era-in-nigerian-politics/

New era ko, new eran ni. The writer is either naive or oblivious to the machinations of governance in Nigeria. Without a very drastic and bold set of actions from the president, it will be busineess as usual. I do not believe that GEJ hass what it takes to drastically change the system.

ndu_chucks:

New era ko, new eran ni. The writer is either naive or oblivious to the machinations of governance in Nigeria. Without a very drastic and bold set of actions from the president, it will be busineess as usual. I do not believe that GEJ hass what it takes to drastically change the system.

Lol! I recall your earlisest "predictions" for GEJ, they ALL failed.