Judged by the expression of tolerance for dissent and adversarial views and positions towards his incumbency, it is difficult to controvert the argument that President Goodluck Jonathan has expanded the frontiers of democracy in Nigeria.
He has not engaged in any frontal attack on the formal institutions of democracy and in some cases –such as INEC and the National Human Rights Commission-backed strengthening them. He has signed freedom of information and National health bills into law’ noted the British House of commons. He has done it to such an extent that a citizenry that had grown somewhat accustomed to (prolonged military dictatorship induced) authoritarian impudence is often inclined to re-designate his dovish attribute as pacifist weakness.
Following the logic of the cliché that too much of any good trait is bad, the president is liable to the perception of not knowing where good natured tolerance stops and submissive capitulation begins-and it is possible to exaggerate the contribution of Jonathan to democratic expansion in Nigeria.
The impulse towards a liberal democratic Nigeria is in large measure a specific product of its political history-comprising assertive and repetitive micro nationalist agitations; and persistent struggle for public accountability spearheaded by a critical western metropolitan oriented intelligentsia and media.
The global village effect-(predicated on the internet age phenomenon), is no respecter of national boundaries and confronted with this democracy boosting phenomenon, Nigeria has been no exception. However, notwithstanding its universally acknowledged utility, democracy is not without its flaws-the acceptable collateral damage of its dysfunctions (side effects)-so to say.
It was in anticipation of the fullness of the trend of democratic disclosure that the late iconic Chief Obafemi Awolowo routinely disclosed his annual medical consultation visits to Mayo clinic in the United States of America in the latter part of his adult life.
Overt politically motivated advertisement and speculation on the imminence and impending death of a political opponent may amount to taking things too far but Presidential contenders do owe the public a reasonable degree of disclosure on the status of their health. Presentation of health status certificate by applicants is after all a standard public and private employment requirement.
At the age of 70 years and above, the news is not that a Presidential applicant is going for medical consultations, the news is actually the contrary-that 72 years old Buhari seem eager to contest the fact that he has any need to consult with his doctors. Against the background of the tragic and premature exit (occasioned by the culmination of his prolonged health crisis into death) of the late President Umar Yaradua from office, public curiosity on the health status of a frail looking Buhari was bound to spike.
The inexplicable resolute determination of the APC to shield its Presidential candidate from public scrutiny-where the subject of personal fitness is concerned, has resulted in the bigger tragedy of character and moral crisis. What manner of desperation would drive a political party and its Presidential contender of the status of a former military head of state to resort to the concealment ruse of forging the location of a purported media engagement?
The only derivable logic from the perceived need to undertake this elaborate and astonishing scam is that the APC indeed has something to hide concerning the health of its Presidential candidate-and that what it is thereby concealing is of critical proportions.
What should worry us even more is that the recurrence of this wilful obstruction and dissembling is trending towards becoming an APC party tradition. It is a replay of the missing certificate saga all over again-where the requirement of a simple act of honesty is repudiated in preference for a tortuous and absurd catch me if you can stonewalling .
In place of a simple request to the Army to make available copies of a said original certificate copy, the APC candidate chose to do a sworn affidavit claiming the copies are in the custody of the military authorities. The reason for the preference of the latter absurd option was soon revealed in the open disclaimer by the Army (of having the said credentials in its custody). What this means in plain language is that whoever made such a claim was lying. In the 2015 elections cycle the early warning of Buhari’s tendency for doublespeak and moral flexibility is illustrated in the following exchange:
The Cable: You said you were not going to run again in 2011. What has changed?
Buhari: I wrote a letter where I mentioned some people who told me I cannot do that….. people told me I could not do that because to some people I no longer belong to myself, I belong to them.
Whatever the outcome of this political adventure for Buhari, it is certain that his hitherto unexamined reputation for integrity would lie in tatters. Never call any man great until the end of his life-admonishes the wit. (Thisday).