Today, and more than any time in our historical past, the thoughts of Nigerians are pervaded by a sense of the ethereal, the desire to locate every solution to every social problem in the spiritual. Yet, there are quite a number of Nigerians who believe that problem solving involves profound examination of the social structures from which the problems hive off and the critical analysis of their causal effects.
Today, and more than any time in our historical past, the thoughts of Nigerians are pervaded by a sense of the ethereal, the desire to locate every solution to every social problem in the spiritual. Yet, there are quite a number of Nigerians who believe that problem solving involves profound examination of the social structures from which the problems hive off and the critical analysis of their causal effects.
Recently, I attended the public presentation of the book, “101 Reasons for Goodluck Jonathan’s Presidency in 2011”, where I sat next to a lady who by her accent I presumed was from some place in central Nigeria. In the course of our chat, she told me that there were actually one hundred and two reasons for Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency in 2011. The first and the most important reason that ought to have been included in Peter Biakpara’s book, she suggested is: ‘Goodluck is Godsend’. Each time I pressed her on her claim, she would merely stare at me and break into the song, “Nagode Allah”.
It is pertinent, therefore, to ask the question: ‘What if he is, how will we know?’ Some questions do not elicit answers, not least insistence on answers that do not allow for verification or bases upon which truths can be established. And some answers, for what they are worth, are indeed beyond knowing.
Goodluck Jonathan is a leader I have a great deal of time for. His quiet disposition and intellect are imperatives for statecraft as well as for discerning complex social problems and ethnic relations. Beyond this, Goodluck Jonathan’s advent challenges the politics and polity that pitch governance with the ethnic.
The dawning of Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency suggests the opening of the political space to every Nigerian who aspires to the highest political office in our country, irrespective of the circumstances of birth. It is important to stress that a polity that fosters degenerative politics do not entirely have the capacity to present one ‘Godsend’, to borrow the noun from our lady. But what it does present aplenty are wishful thinkers, political daydreamers: those who dream of themselves as the messiahs; those who dream of every leader as Godsend. Then, ‘What if he is, how will we know?’ is a recurring question that always needs answers.
A few clarifications. The possibility exists that a degenerative polity can throw up ‘Godsend’. The possibility depends on two premises: firstly, God thrusts on the polity an individual who possesses divine attributes and whose rise to power is divine in many ways. Secondly, an individual (Here, I have Ribadu, Momodu and a certain Saidu Malami in mind) who has no previous connection with the polity enters the electoral arena with a robust agenda for the radicalisation of the polity, presents a working manifesto that aspires to the finest social, political and human ideals may become Godsend. However, the challenge for such individual is first to overcome resistance from powerful vested economic interests and secondly exhaust the religious and ethnic forces that are at play. And in respect of Goodluck Jonathan, yes, there is the common belief that his advent is divine, the proof of which is somewhat beyond knowing. What if he won the PDP primary and the 2011 election? What if he took Nigeria back from the brink, radicalized our politics in a manner Nigerians had never known it, would answers have been provided to the question, ’how will we know?’
Today, esotericism pervades the Nigerian thought. With many Nigerians seeking solutions to their personal problems in the spiritual, and many more Nigerians who insist that remedies for society’s ills are wrought by prayer, can we truly say ‘it is well?’ It is well.
*Abdul Mahmud writes from Abuja
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