By DAPO FALADE
When Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, a sitting president, symbolically picked up his phone to congratulate and thereby concede victory to the then Major General Muhammadu Buhari, even as the counting of votes was still ongoing in the 2015 presidential election, many of his stone-hearted critics opined that the president was a weakling who did not willingly accept defeat, but was only bowing to intense pressure from within and without the country.
The cynicm notwithstanding, Jonathan laid a precedent in the annals of the political history of our dear beleaguered country, and probably in the history of the entire African Continent, by being the first sitting president to concede victory and congratulate his opponent, even when the election process has not been completed.
However, what was unbeknownst to President Jonathan at that point in time was that he was also laying a global record in democratic development…as events would later prove.
A little over five (5) years after that unprecedented record, the former Nigerian president has become a global icon in the art of democracy, a good example of own a true democrat should behave in the face of electoral defeat.
His feat trascends the shores of Africa and is now shaking the root and essence of the oldest democracy in the world, the once-upon-a-time almighty beacon of democratic leadership, the United States of America (USA).
All other democracies of the world have been looking up to the USA as the right compass in democracy. No one, not even the political analysts, even gave it a thought that, one day, a brute will come to power and upturn, within his first term in office, all what the 235-year-old democracy stands for in the provision of leadership.
Sadly, Donald Trump finds himself in power, and he got drunk on the charms and allures of the Office of the President of the most powerful country in the world. Greatly intoxicated, he threw overboard, and with a great relish, all democratic norms.
What happened at the Capitol yesterday was an anti-thesis of what democracy stands for. The shameful act has brought a great shame on the USA and has impugned, fundamentally, all what the great country lays claim to as a democracy. President Donald Trump has done everything ‘unAmerican’ in his four-year term office and he is seeking to bring the country into a great ruin, even as he takes his exit from office.
Will the USA remain itself, even after the Bull eventually leaves office in less than 14 days’ time? Can the shame of the Capitol disgrace ever be erased from the history of the country? What are the inherent lessons therein for other democracies?
Our own dear President Goodluck Jonathan, you come in handy here as you continue to spread the message of peace across the world. Teach the likes of Donald Trump the essence of gentlemanliness…let them know and understand how ephemeral power is and the foolishness in seeking for self-perpetuation in office.
LAST LINE: Our dear President Goodluck Jonathan, what gave you the global recognition and honour you are enjoying today is your altruistic willingness to let go of the allures of office. This single act of yours in 2015 has conferred on you the title of African Icon of Democracy. Your mediating roles across the Continent are not unnoticed.
Your Excellency, it is my humble but candid advice that you don’t tarnish this good image by acceding to the rumoured selfish desire of some devils to have you back in office in 2023. Continue to enjoy your peaceful living in retirement and let the adulation for you remain, Sir.
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