SPORTSMANSHIP IN POLITICS
THERE are serious indications that sanity is gradually prevailing in partisan politics in Nigeria. One veritable sign of this welcome development is the spirit of sportsmanship that some Nigerian politicians seem to have embraced. It was hitherto virtually unheard of for losers in political contests in the country to congratulate the winners and concede defeat. But that would appear to be changing now. Politicians who lost elections have, uncharacteristically, begun to congratulate their opponents who won in contests in which they were the losers. The admonition: display gallantry in defeat and magnanimity in victory would appear to be finding concrete expression among Nigerian politicians. It is hoped that this admonition will be observed to the fullest when winners also start to show magnanimity in their dealings and relations with some losers who have shown uncommon courage in this clime by wishing their opponents well after losing elections.
PERHAPS the first politician of note to fire the salvo was Honourable Dimeji Bankole, the outgoing Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was the first to congratulate the House of Representative member-elect; Mr. Segun Williams, his relatively unknown opponent who defeated him to take the slot for the Abeokuta South Federal constituency during the recently concluded National Assembly elections. His congratulatory message, which surprised many a Nigerian was a welcome elixir in a political space that was suffocated by bitterness and seemingly unending acrimony. And since then, as if taking a cue from Dimeji, more politicians have joined the fray. The list includes Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State; the immediate past governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Senators Isiaka Adeleke and Iyiola Omisore, Dr Ade Dosumu, Rasheed Ladoja, Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala and it is lengthening by the day. All these prominent Nigerians were aspirants in the recently concluded 2011 general elections. They lost the elections, but they have since congratulated their opponents who won. This is a marked departure from what one would have expected, when losers would be spitting fire, denigrating the integrity of the electoral umpire and digging trenches to commence protracted litigations. It will be gladdening to see this trend across the nation so that one can begin to say that the politics of bitterness and do-or-die is yielding ground to that driven by reason and service.
THE greatest credit for this similitude of sanity, creeping into the polity by politicians’ concession of defeat, goes to Professor Attahiru Jega, former labour unionist and academic, who currently heads the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). His unwavering resolve to conduct free, fair and credible elections would appear to have brought post-election bickering and disputations to all time low. The election has been adjudged credible by both local and international observers. The transparency of the elections at the polling booths was equally acknowledged by many voters. The natural implication is that when votes are counted and made to count in an election, there would be little or nothing to bicker about when election result is released, except where politicians chose to be outrightly mischievous.
THE president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Dr. Goodluck Jonathan; also deserves commendation for the salutary turn of event. He promised to accord unfettered freedom to INEC to conduct the elections within the ambits of the extant law and he appeared to have done just that. In his word, action and body language he did not allow for any doubt about his sincerity. Somehow and gladly so, Jonathan was probably the first beneficiary of his display of fairness and statesmanship in superintending over the conduct of 2011 general elections.
PERHAPS, it is safe to conclude that in addition to rubbishing the erroneous belief that Nigeria could not hold a credible election, the Jega -led INEC would appear to have begun to elicit the right attitude from the Nigerian politicians. It may not yet be Uhuru, but the indications are encouraging and give good cause for cheer.
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