President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari of All Progressives Congress (APC) has acknowledged the great role journalists played in actualizing the general elections across the country on March 28 and April 11, reminding them that their job is far from completed.

In a goodwill message to the meeting of the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) holding in Lagos, General Buhari said that having played a role in bringing the present change about, “the work of the press is not over. The incoming administration would like the press to continue its role of watchmen and women, aggregating the views and positions of the people on national issues and presenting these as lucidly as possible through publication and other channels to the government to guide it in the onerous task of providing good governance for our people.”

The President-elect observed that Nigeria is a huge country and that no government can be able to know all that is happening across the length and breadth of the country without assistance of the media which has an impressive national reach.

General Buhari said that Nigerians appreciated what he called the moderating role played by the press at all levels, saying: “I want on behalf of our people to say THANK YOU, for a job well done.”

Part of the speech goes thus:

It is with much pleasure that I am sending you this goodwill message to welcome the members of the esteemed Nigerian Guild of Editors to your 2015 Biennial Convention.

Any meeting of the Guild is always an important national event because of the role which the Press, our very vibrant press has played and continues to play in the overall development of our nation’s democracy. As Editors, members of the Guild play the role of gate-keepers, deciding for good or ill what goes into the media, and what is kept out. Though no Editor is dictatorial or meant to be, but to ensure that there is order and responsibility, those who developed the press over the centuries in their wisdom, invested the Editor with these powers.

There is little need to start rehashing the importance of the media or press in modern democracies. However, it is important to mention that the press in Nigeria, and indeed in many countries influence millions of people daily as most people make it a habit to read a newspaper or listen to newspaper reviews every morning before setting out for the days’ business. And for many people including  government officials, the reports contained in newspapers or the editorial opinion of some of the influential newspapers remain at the back of their minds and influence the basis of discussion and debate among government officials.

There is no modern society or government that can neglect the press or  can function without a vibrant media. It is for this reason that most government agencies, ministries and departments as well as the Presidency or Office of the Prime Minister have press offices manned by media specialists and communication officers. Also in democracies, we are yet to see a political party that does not employ the services of journalists and media experts nor can any political party or individual seek power or mandate from the people without utilizing the services of media experts and journalists. In fact, it has become the norm, judging from our own 2015 national elections, that committed and knowledgeable media team comprising a seasoned and well-informed journalist under a good leader influences the difference between victory and defeat. This is so because for much of the election period, it is the press that the electorate listens to, and seek out to know the difference between the political parties and form their opinion about which party to vote for.

Thus, the press plays a very important role in all modern states and especially in democracies. And as more and more states strive towards improving popular participation in government, the role of the press can only but expand thereby conferring more influence and responsibility on the Editors and their Guilds or association.

It is instructive and delightful to note that this year’s meeting of the Guild is coming so soon after a major political event in our country and in which the press including the radio and television played a critical role. This was the 2015 elections for which reason all sorts of predictions and doomsday scenarios were bandied about. Thankfully the election has come and gone relatively peacefully and Nigeria for pulling it through is now hailed by the comity of nations as a modern democracy. All Nigerians including politicians are aware of the moderating role played by the press at all levels. I want on behalf of our people to say THANK YOU, for a job well done. Nigerians now have the change of government they desire and for the first time, it was possible for a party in opposition to defeat a party in power following the people’s will!

Welcome once again. I wish you, on behalf of all Nigerians, fruitful deliberations and safe journey as you return to your destinations after what I pray will be a successful Convention. [myad]

Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has referred to President Goodluck Jonathan as a moving train who was providentially stopped from collapsing Nigeria with General Muhammadu Buhari unseating him at the March 28 Presidential election.

Obasanjo, who led the African Union Observation Mission to the April 2015 General Election in Sudan, spoke at a Washington DC event, saying that Nigeria has been obsessively playing “a dangerous game of moving close to the precipice.”

He said the country came close to disintegration in the run-up to the 2015 elections but switched swiftly to the path of redemption after the polls.

“I hope we will not fall over one of these days,” he said, adding that one month to the election, no one believed “we will have a peaceful election that is reasonably free and fair.”

He made it clear that many countries across the African continent are happy over the outcome of the presidential election in Nigeria, adding that his checks in a number of African countries suggested they were as happy over the result of the election as majority of Nigerians are.

“I have visited six countries since the election, they are as happy about the results as we are in Nigeria. It is good not only for Nigeria, it is good for Africa and I believe it is good for the world.”

Describing his role in the election as that of a person standing on the track of a moving train, the former president said during the countdown to the elections, he faced the option of “jumping off” the tracks or “be crushed” if the train did not providentially get “derailed and stop.”

He said he did not jump and was not crushed adding that “at every stage, there must be leaders imbued with sufficient courage and will to stand firm when you have to stand firm.”

He described the results of the elections as what Nigerians “deserve” though some Nigerians “did not want it.”
Obasanjo was the featured speaker at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) event titled What is Right with Africa: Reframing Africa’s Leadership Challenges.

He made these remarks in response to a question by Princeton Lyman, a former ambassador to Nigeria.

Obasanjo observed that Nigeria’s tendency to flirt with near-death experiences stretches back to colonial times when it almost cost the country the chance of gaining political independence from Britain.

Recalling colonial-era disagreements over self-rule, the former President said at a stage, advocates of self-rule from the Eastern and Western Regions decided to “let the North go” since their leaders were reluctant to accept regional autonomy back then.

“But reason prevailed,” he said, “East and West got internal autonomy in 1957, North got same in 1959 and the whole country got independence in 1960.”

Listing the 1964 post-election violence in the south west and the 1966 coup d’etats which led to “pogrom and civil war” as other self-destructive phases in the country’s history, the former president remarked that Nigeria emerged from all of these as “one entity” in spite of contrarian speculations.

“Not only did we survive the civil war but, within nine years, somebody from the rebel side, as we called them, and somebody from the vandal side, as they called us, became president and vice-president of Nigeria. Not many countries achieve that,” he said.

Obasanjo described the 2015 election as “almost in the same category” as other near-death experiences in Nigeria’s history.

He said one month to the election, no one believed “we will have a peaceful election that is reasonably free and fair.”

“I think we are now building institutions that can withstand what we may see as danger to good governance in Africa. The election has moved Nigeria one very important step up in our democratic dispensation, process and practice.” [myad]