“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” Shakespeare
Waziri Atiku Abubakar, GCON, embarked on the journey of Presidential Election 2019 mindful of the challenges that an election in our country poses under the circumstances of our limited capacity to organise free, fair, transparent and credible elections, against an incumbent having undue advantage in the truest sense of the word.
As the spokesperson of his campaign, I was determined to have a narrative management style that was informative, educative, stylized, nontoxic and passionate. It was in staying with the democratic norms and credentials of such a tested and trusted surefooted enigma that Atiku Abubakar is.
It is appropriate to congratulate the declared winner, HE Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, and his supporters, for whatever it is worth: the highest court in our country, the Supreme Court, has ruled in their favour.
It was a well fought battle of ideas and I believe the Nigerian People have also seen the difference in what we hoped to bring in our Let’s Get Nigeria Working Again mantra and the Next Level Cliche of the ruling APC.
While we await the reason behind the decision of the learned justices of the Supreme Court, I will not fail to point out the need for a comprehensive reform of our electoral processes. We must seek to bring about a process that has better integrity and that will be less cumbersome; we must understand that as things stand right now, the victor is indeed the victim, if a large number of our citizens believe that he or she is sitting on a stolen mandate. Why must that be the way to go in the future?
Indeed, we all are losers when the Integrity of the entire process, including the judiciary becomes suspect. All of these could be avoided if we just looked at other nations where elections were held and all parties were reasonably satisfied with both the process and the outcome.
Every attempt to lead the country ought to be an opportunity to present oneself for service, and this, by His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, must be situated in the same light, for who will quarrel with how he has carried this burden with the dignity of a statesman and worthy ambassador of a noble heritage?
We remain very grateful and proud of who Almighty God has gifted Nigeria in his person. If tomorrow comes, the sun will shine again.
***Segun Sowunmi was the spokesperson of Atiku Abubakar’s presidential campaign team.
