It was Laurence Peter who once said that democracy is a process by which people are free to choose the man who will get the blame.
Blame-game! Last week, I was forced to ask aloud: When will President Muhammadu Buhari and his Lai Mohammed allow the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to rest in peace?
Between May 29 and today, and maybe in the days ahead, if blame-game could resurrect the economy, ensure constant power supply, or create employment opportunities, we wouldn’t be where we are now.
From the cry over empty treasury at inception to the biting fuel scarcity which we are still struggling to come out from, Jonathan must not only be blamed but held responsible for the failures of this administration.
Last week, in the midst of the biting fuel scarcity across the nation, someone even suggested that petroleum products marketers were still loyal to Jonathan; and that was why they shut down their sales point against the public.
The question is: what does Jonathan stand to gain if fuel scarcity sinks its teeth into the system; cripples the economy and renders the nation’s productive system impotent?
From Boko Haram in the north eastern part of the country to the Biafran boys in the south east or the bloodbath created by Fulani herdsmen in the Middle Belt of Nigeria, Jonathan must be sacrificed for the sins of others.
My concern is not that Jonathan is being crucified daily by this administration; my worry rather is that whatever Jonathan did wrong while in office, six months after taking over, this administration has done little or nothing to change the situation.
The only change we have seen in the last six months has been change of guards at certain juicy government agencies where the people in power believe ‘it is our turn to eat.’ Take it or leave it, it’s still business as usual here; and could even be worse.
Jonathan’s exit from power was unprecedented by our standards. He could have decided to hang on against all tenets of democratic decency.
People would only have shouted, break some heads, set some houses on fire, get killed or maimed; and that would be it.
Jonathan did not want any of that. He left and gained some unusual applause. He did what was right though unpredictable. While former President Olusegun Obasanjo wanted a third term, Jonathan left after just one term.
Six months later, Buhari gave a speech to Mohammed to deliver at the National Democratic Institute. What would have been an opportunity to implore other leaders across Africa to follow Jonathan’s selfless example was turned into an arena for blame-game.
Here is a part of what he said: “Our experience in the last transition process was unique, despite the fact that we have held many general elections and transitioned from one government to another.
“Indeed, the last election heralded the first real transition in the history of our nation, being the first time that an opposition party will sweep the ruling party out of power.
“This probably explains why the then ruling government was completely caught unawares by the outcome of the election. For the government led by a ruling party that had vowed to stay in power for 60 years in the first instance, they were not prepared for any transition that will not be from themselves to themselves.
“How can they, when they felt invincible, judging by their perceived strength and assumed popularity and the huge resources at their disposal?
“Because they were not mentally prepared for the outcome of that election, they were unable to put in place structures that will make the transition seamless.
“The absence of this almost marred the transition process that followed. Because our country lacks an institutionalised transition system, the then ruling government simply did not know what to do, and unpatriotic elements exploited the situation, which almost led to a national crisis.
“In order to achieve its mandate, the transition committee which I constituted after our historic victory in the last election had hoped that the outgoing government’s team will sit down with our committee to ensure an orderly handover of notes, exchange of views and clarifications.
“We expected comprehensive report on the state of the economy, the security situation, infrastructure development or deficit and social issues, among others, in an atmosphere devoid of bitterness, confrontation and conflict.
“What we got was the exact opposite of what we expected. The team put in place by the outgoing government did not for once sit down with our own transition committee to discuss the nitty-gritty of what we were inheriting.
“The incoming government was completely left in the dark, and only got the handover notes four days to the handover date.
“The result was that the 19-member transition committee, led by Ahmed Joda, had to turn itself into a resource group by dividing itself into five groups covering Finance and Economy, Security, Social Issues, Good Governance and Foreign Affairs.
“The committee then invited experts and resource persons to make presentations to it on the various issues. It was good that the committee took that action because when the outgoing government finally sent in its handover notes, they were not as helpful as they ought to have been.
“The notes did not disclose the information that would help the incoming government….”
We have heard this story over and over. The lamentation is becoming boring. For how long shall this last? It’s time to move on. It’s time to look away from the so called ugly past and create a new future.
Let change roll. Let blame-game end.