By Oguwike Nwachuku
Theresa May, British Prime Minister resigned her position on Friday, May 24. Her resignation was the biggest story of the day, not just in Europe but elsewhere around the globe.
Against her wish, Theresa May decided to heed the call of Britons who felt her tenure has not dealt kindly to them as far as the Brexit saga is concerned and announced her resignation.
No doubt, her resignation made instant impact on Britons and other persons who have been following the Brexit story since 2016 Theresa May was elected Prime Minister.
Her speech which was aired on major national and international television stations became a must watch and attracted millions of viewership.
One thing that comes to mind about Theresa May’s resignation and her speech was the significance of government as a continuum.
What do I mean?
Notwithstanding that Theresa May felt she could not achieve what her country men and women wanted from her and decided to call it quits, she still believes that whoever comes after her as Prime Minister should be able to do that which Britons want.
There was no room for her to start pointing accusing fingers. As far as she was concerned, she had done her part. She gave her best to the people and whether her best was good enough was for Britons to say.
Theresa May did not set out to malign those likely to succeed her nor did she start abusing and castigating them. I have not read anywhere she called out her likely successors and profiled them negatively simply because she lost power.
Her speech that I have the pleasure to reproduce here was also a report card of Theresa May’s three-year service that got emotions raised, people weeping together with her when she broke down. How sincere and committed could a public servant be?
She wrote: “Ever since I first stepped through the door behind me as Prime Minister, I have striven to make the United Kingdom a country that works not just for a privileged few, but for everyone.
“And to honor the result of the EU referendum. Back in 2016, we gave the British people a choice. Against all predictions, the British people voted to leave the European Union.
“I feel as certain today as I did three years ago that in a democracy, if you give people a choice you have a duty to implement what they decide. I have done my best to do that.
“I negotiated the terms of our exit and a new relationship with our closest neighbors that protects jobs, our security and our Union.
“I have done everything I can to convince MPs to back that deal. Sadly, I have not been able to do so. I tried three times. I believe it was right to persevere, even when the odds against success seemed high.
“But it is now clear to me that it is in the best interests of the country for a new Prime Minister to lead that effort.
“So I am today announcing that I will resign as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party on Friday 7 June so that a successor can be chosen.
“I have agreed with the Party Chairman and with the Chairman of the 1922 Committee that the process for electing a new leader should begin in the following week.
“I have kept Her Majesty the Queen fully informed of my intentions, and I will continue to serve as her Prime Minister until the process has concluded.
“It is, and will always remain, a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit. It will be for my successor to seek a way forward that honors the result of the referendum.
“To succeed, he or she will have to find consensus in Parliament where I have not. Such a consensus can only be reached if those on all sides of the debate are willing to compromise.
“For many years the great humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton – who saved the lives of hundreds of children by arranging their evacuation from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia through the Kindertransport – was my constituent in Maidenhead.
“At another time of political controversy, a few years before his death, he took me to one side at a local event and gave me a piece of advice.
“He said, ‘Never forget that compromise is not a dirty word. Life depends on compromise’. He was right.
“As we strive to find the compromises we need in our politics – whether to deliver Brexit, or to restore devolved government in Northern Ireland – we must remember what brought us here.
“Because the referendum was not just a call to leave the EU but for profound change in our country. A call to make the United Kingdom a country that truly works for everyone. I am proud of the progress we have made over the last three years.
“We have completed the work that David Cameron and George Osborne started: the deficit is almost eliminated, our national debt is falling and we are bringing an end to austerity.
“My focus has been on ensuring that the good jobs of the future will be created in communities across the whole country, not just in London and the South East, through our Modern Industrial Strategy.
“We have helped more people than ever enjoy the security of a job. We are building more homes and helping first-time buyers onto the housing ladder – so young people can enjoy the opportunities their parents did.
“And we are protecting the environment, eliminating plastic waste, tackling climate change and improving air quality.
“This is what a decent, moderate and patriotic Conservative Government, on the common ground of British politics, can achieve – even as we tackle the biggest peacetime challenge any government has faced.
“I know that the Conservative Party can renew itself in the years ahead. That we can deliver Brexit and serve the British people with policies inspired by our values: security; freedom; opportunity.
“Those values have guided me throughout my career.
“But the unique privilege of this office is to use this platform to give a voice to the voiceless, to fight the burning injustices that still scar our society.
“That is why I put proper funding for mental health at the heart of our NHS long-term plan. It is why I am ending the postcode lottery for survivors of domestic abuse.
“It is why the Race Disparity Audit and gender pay reporting are shining a light on inequality, so it has nowhere to hide.
“And that is why I set up the independent public inquiry into the tragedy at Grenfell Tower – to search for the truth, so nothing like it can ever happen again, and so the people who lost their lives that night are never forgotten.
“Because this country is a Union. Not just a family of four nations. But a union of people – all of us. Whatever our background, the color of our skin, or who we love. We stand together. And together we have a great future.
“Our politics may be under strain, but there is so much that is good about this country. So much to be proud of. So much to be optimistic about.
“I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honor of my life to hold – the second female Prime Minister but certainly not the last.
“I do so with no ill-will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love.”
Back home in Nigeria where power will change hands at the federal and state levels on Wednesday, May 29, you wonder whether government is actually a continuum. Few instances would suffice.
First was the news from Ogun State that outgoing Governor Ibikunle Amosun was busy heaping sands at every available space where his successor, Dapo Abiodun is expected to hold his inauguration activities.
Forget that Amosun had said he would ensure Abiodun gets a hitch-free inauguration, pointers to the fact that the outgoing governor was still nursing the ill-feeling that his surrogate did not emerge his successor are obvious.
And the feeling you get is that of one governor who is not interested in what happens to his state after leaving office just because his choice of successor was not heeded.
Also in Imo State, the outgoing Governor Rochas Okorocha has been openly making things so difficult for his would be successor. Governor-elect of Imo, Emeka Ihedioha, had had cause to raise the alarm that Okorocha was frustrating his inauguration.
Many of those in Ihedioha’s Transition and Inauguration Committees had also complained bitterly that their efforts were being frustrated. And you ask: how?
They say Okorocha not only refused to release funds for the inauguration, but that most of the places designated as venue for the activities to mark Ihedioha’s inauguration were either vandalized or the facilities therein removed.
For instance, at the Ahiajoku Centre, venue of the inauguration lecture slated for May 28, all the seats were reportedly carted away while the air-conditioning systems were also vandalized. The International conference Centre is not different.
Two other venues – Dan Anyiam International Stadium and the Grasshoppers Handball Stadium – both in decrepit situation under Okorocha were being renovated by Ihedioha for his inauguration.
That, of course, is against the spirit of continuity in government and contrary to the provisions of the constitution of the country.
Unfortunately, the height of efforts to frustrate the inauguration was even the dastard resort to blackmail by Okorocha and his hirelings who claimed that N150 million was released for the inauguration when they know it was false.
How low a governor who claims to be the best thing to happen to his state could stoop? The question people are asking is: Who did Okorocha release the money to? When? How? Where? Who were the conveyors?
This is the same Okorocha who, Monday, May 27 while swearing -in new Permanent Secretaries and Accountant-General in a bid to put yoke on his successor claimed he was leaving N42.5billion for him.
“Imo State Government has kept aside a total of N42.5b for the in-coming government, and for that reason, I will set up a sub-committee to make sure that the projects they are attached to, come to fruition even when I am out of office or when I will not be available because government is a continuum,” Okorocha told his last minute new appointees. Really?
But wait a second. Does Okorocha understand the meaning of continuity in government? Perhaps he does not know what had hit him. Or he is yet to come to terms with the fact that his tenure has ended and that continuity in government does not necessarily mean he will have power over how his successor governs the state after him.
The only way Okorocha would have made a kind of input after exiting power is if he ensured his successor got a seamless transition that would probably endear the in-coming administration to the outgoing one. Unfortunately, the omnipotent in Okorocha would not allow him humble himself to do the needful prior to inauguration.
Signs of mischief had earlier emerged when Ihedioha was announced winner of the governorship election and it became obvious that power was going to exchange hands.
What happened? Agents of government under Okorocha went on looting spree of anything they could lay their hands on. It was akin to madness. And then you wonder if one government is not supposed to positively beget another in a seamless transition that serves the interest of the generality of the people.
Most of the comments credited to Okorocha of late point to quality of leaders we have compared to the Theresa May of this world.
While Okorocha was commissioning the High Court Complex he built, he boasted that Imo will not have a governor like him even in the next 50 years. What?
Hear him: “Let my works speak for me after leaving office …..My crazy system of governance is working and no governor coming after me will ever think of building hospitals in Imo for the next 50 years or to build more universities.”
That is not only a comment in self-glorification and adoration from a man who suffers delusional coruscation, but a careless one that exudes curse on the so-called state he claims to love.
What a toadyism called Okorocha! Can somebody please remind him that his dream of having Imo as eschatological gloom after his tenure has hit the rocks. He must be in pains and needs some balming poultice to bring him back to realm of human sanity.
Government, we are told, is a continuum. It is akin to a relay race where batons exchange hands (or hands exchange batons), from one participant to another, with the overall intent of getting to the destination of the race which is to win the trophy.
In a relay race, there is not supposed to be any ambiguity. In other words, the rule – from one baton to the other – is simple. If anything, the sole common feature in a relay race is collective action which translates to collective victory. Suffice to say that the victory and the joy therefrom are shared by everyone.
That is exactly what government is expected to be, more so in a situation where the leaders understand their role in government vis-a-vis the rules.
May 29, 2019 is already here. It is hours away. Surprisingly, Nigerians know the significance of the date to their political and socio-economic lives.
Since 1999 when Nigeria returned to civil rule (many say we are not practicing democracy yet), May 29 has always rung bell in the minds of both the leaders and the led. It means many things, not only to our political actors and actresses but to all citizens.
To a lot of us, on this day, new entrants into the political chess board called offices, particularly the in-coming governors, take their oath of office on how to provide leadership in line with the laws of the country.
Also, returning governors or presidents by virtue of having their tenure renewed or given fresh mandate to remain in the saddle, also use the same opportunity of May 29 to renew their contract with the people they preside over their affairs.
May 29 affords the in-coming governors or president the opportunity to make promises on issues of governance as they affect the states or the country.
They often take the opportunity to remind the people how they want to perform better than those they are replacing, mutatis mutandis.
The expectation on this day is always high, whether from the perspective of the in-coming governors or the returning governors.
For the returning governors, on May 29 they would like to speak on areas of consolidation and basically, chart new governance courses in the fresh term. They do not normally deliver lengthy speeches during their second tenure because most of them have become masters in the game of using their offices to deceive the electorate. If anything, their speech delves into subtle threat as a way of telling the people to be more careful with them or be dealt with.
But the in-coming governors will like to use this day to “announce” themselves. Since it is said that first impression matters, most in-coming governors want to impress the people with promises, hope, expectations, desires, oration, and all the good (even bad) things the electorate want to hear them say from the podium that will be of interest.
One thing, though, about this day is that it has gone beyond just inauguration to becoming more or less a day for razzmatazz. Whether for the in-coming or returning governors, it has become a day of merry making of sort. Sexual immorality, drunkenness, partying, and other forms of unbecoming demeanour would be on display and venerated like religion at the hotels that would be fully booked in all the cities in the country in the name of inauguration. On this day, many electorate or even political parties want to say they are now in charge, hence the fun can continue, rather than use it for sober reflection.
Those who think the day is a loud sounding nothing and signifying nothing based on personal experience since May 29, 1999 may not be wrong. After all, is it not the same day that we use in ushering in all manner of characters into offices they were either ill-prepared to occupy, or highly prepared to occupy for reasons other than service to the people?
Yes. That is what our May 29 inauguration has come to depict if critically evaluated.
I have read the speech which Okorocha delivered during his inauguration in 2011. If you did, you will think the Messiah the Imo people had long expected had come. But his turned out to be full of pretentious sincerity to his people. Eight years down the road, most of the things he told Imolites were fulfilled in breach.
If Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was privileged to read Okorocha’s 2011 inauguration speech, he probably would have been more circumspect in scoring him so highly based on the few guided places the governor took him to when he visited Imo.
“I’ve always found him very strange. I must say so because he’s otherwise someone who is not quiet but decided to keep quiet about his achievements. I’ve not been able to understand that because anybody who knows him will not say he’s a quiet man,” said Osinbajo.
Mr. VP, Okorocha is always on top of his game which is, the more you look the less you see. Many have asked whether Osinbajo also saw what the inside of the physical infrastructure like the hospitals, universities, etc he was taken around looks like.
The point is that Imo people are happy Okorocha’s tenure has come to an end the way many Ogun indigenes are rejoicing that the tenure of Amosun who could not complete the Akute-Olambe-Ajunwo road (among others he initiated during his eight years in office), has ended despite the beautiful inauguration speeches they delivered on May 29, 2011 and 2015.
Many speeches, as usual, are ready to be delivered on Wednesday, May 29, 2019 at the states by the governors and Abuja, by President Muhammadu Buhari. What manner of speeches will they be? Like the one Okorocha or Amosun presented?
What level of responsibility, commitment, sincerity of purpose, moral integrity and fear of God are we going to see in those who will deliver the speeches during inauguration?
Will the in-coming governors and returning ones, as well as the President, serve the purpose for which they have been entrusted with the future of the states and our country?
Or will they serve the interest of the select few – their praise-singers, party caucus members, family and friends?
After the inauguration, will they see the offices they have come to occupy as their fiefdom to unleash terror, hardship, fear and further undermine whatever is left of the citizens and our society – state and nation?