BUHARI AND JONATHAN: FRIENDS

On one fateful Monday night, I was unsettled and awake up to 1:30am, pondering on the possible outcome of the overheated polity in our country and about who's who on the D-Day: the fast-approaching Nigerian 28/03 and 12/04/­2015 General Elections, which is even more overheated between the supporters of the two arch presidential candidates of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that of the leading opposition All Progressive Congress (APC); Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonthan (GEJ), the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (GMB), the former Nigeria military head of state respectively. To calm myself and contribute in cooling the growing tension in the country, I thought of composing and sharing a poem with my fellow countrymen. I composed one but scrapped it for it didn't appeal to me. Before I started another one, I received a WhatsApp video clip which I instantly downloaded and watched. I was impressed to the core by it and, thereafter, it became my best clip ever, which I watched and sent to my friends quite often, because of its peace-promoting-content. The video diverted me from communicating to Nigerians poetically to prosaically and thus, I came up with this piece. The clip showcased Buhari and Jonathan in a warm embrace, which signifies that they are friends and peace-lovers.

The video was shot during an agreement that was named 'Abuja Accord', jointly organized by the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Inter-Party Affairs which was signed by Jonathan, Buhari and twelve other different political parties and their chairmen, at Abuja. It committed the signatories and their political parties to peaceful electioneering cam­paigns, peaceful polls and good handling of the result of the 2015 elections to ensure that there is no eruption of violence. The Accord was initiated, moderated and facilitated by men and women of goodwill who were uncomfortable with what the overheated campaign was leading the country into. It was witnessed by the former United Nation (UN) Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan of Ghana and the former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku of Nigeria, among others who flanked Jonathan and Buhari while they were signing the Accord that made them bound by non-violence.

Buhari dressed in brown flying gown (babbar riga) with white eye glasses on his face and a Zanna cap on his head, while Jonathan was in his usual brown jacket and a hat. The video began by showing each of them wearing a hearty smile and was enthusiastic to be the first to embrace, greet and shake hands with the other. Wow! Since whatever Jonathanians and Buharians do is presumably in favour of their heroes, let them behave in accordance with 'like-father-like-son' manner. In other words, let them rush to be the first to behave peace-lovingly as epitomized by their heroes.

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

Below is a transcript of the historic greetings that transpired between GEJ and GMB while they were shaking hands which they maintained up to the time they ended the greetings:

GMG: 'Good morning Mr president'.

GEJ: 'Good morning sir'

GMB: 'How are you Mr president?'

GEJ: 'How are you sir?'

GMB: 'How is the campaign Mr president?'

GEJ: 'How is the campaign sir?'

The duo broke into a friendly laughter as they were releasing the hands of each other and embracing. The audience were watching with enthusiasm. "That's wonderful," remarked Mr. Kofi Annan.

Analytically, the greetings were superb: Despite that it was not in the expected way of greeting between two people, where there is a greeter and responder, this one only had two greeters without a responder, and that is even what made the greetings superb. The absence of a responder happened as a result of the fact that each of the two friends anticipated the other to respond which is a good lesson to emulate by their supporters and the general Nigerians. The lesson, in a lay man's term, is that, my compatriots should avoid doing anything that will erupt violence or chaos of all forms, and rather, should do that which will perpetuate peace before, during and after the two-day-parralell elections, as it was exemplified by the two leaders.

I'm neither a political scientist nor a politician who has sympathy for a certain political party or candidate, but only a well meaning Nigerian. Although, In 2007, I was elected with a landslide victory as a publicity secretary of a certain political party in Tudun Murtala ward of Nassarawa Local Government, Kano State, which made me the youngest Elected Official in all the wards and the Local Government excos, that was not enough to call myself a politician. At that time, I learned a huge first-hand political experience which is still not irrelevant in the contemporary Nigerian politics. Part of it is "supporters' overzealousness" which arguably in my eyes, is the chief factor that leads to the heating and/or overheating of the polity. Most of the supporters, particularly the party's marshals are, truth be told, overzealous. They are so either unconsciously or consciously. Unconsciously because they are, I'm afraid to say, Africans, who are always 'more catholic than the pope'. Politics/democracy is the invention of the Greece, imported into Africa by the colonial masters who left it behind even after we gained independence from them. Instead of us to do it as the inventors do, i.e without overzealousness, we go beyond the limit. Consciously because the overzealous supporters are idle, and being idle implies that Devils are at work, using the over zealousness to make their crooked ends meet.

I was told an amazing but true life story of two next door neighbors. One was popularly known as "Maimalafa" meaning "A wearer of hat" not because he was even ever seen wore a hat but because it was a name referred to GEJ for being a habitual wearer of hat (malafa), while the other as "General", not because he was a soldier, but because it was a name used to refer to GMB for being a retired army General. They were referred to "Maimalafa" and "General" respectively only because the former was a die-hard supporter of Jonathan while the latter a die-hard supporter of Buhari. The house of each was fully painted with PDP's logo and GEJ's portrait and APC's logo and GMB's portrait respectively. What was then more amazing? They ate their three square meals from the same bowls and the children of each slept at any of the two houses they independently desired. Wow! Each of these two households deserved to be crowned a "National Honor" or "Peace Ambassador" or both as token for their rare mutual understanding, tolerance and compromise in the spirit of "national peace" and "one Nigeria"

There are some politicians in Nigeria who always closely monitor the support they enjoy from their supporters with a view to making sure that it doesn't go in excess. Such politicians even warn and punish their erring supporters. Despite their moderate politics, they became popular and win elections at different cadres. In such politics without bitterness, as preached in the actions and words of GEJ and GMB, no drop of blood is worth shedding, in other words, no life, even that of a fly is worth loosing because of any politician, Buhari and Jonathan inclusive. Yes including them! They can be excluded only if they are not human beings or if they are God-sents. If life is worth sacrificing for any politician in this country, believe me you, the first in the list of the sacrificial lambs should be his wives and children. Life is 'sacred' and 'invaluable' to such an extent that the Holy Qur'an says: Whoever saves one life is like he saves the life of the entire humanity, and whoever kills one life is like he kills the life of the entire humanity. No religion/culture or even common sense on earth that disagrees with the sanctity of life. If for instance Mr. A is the victim of Mr. B now, and Mr. C is happy about that, who knows the next victim? it could be Mr. B or Mr. C or their loved ones around or faraway from them.

Way back in my primary school time, I can vividly recall a dramatic scenario between my elder sister and a fowl she was struggling to slaughter. At that moment, I along with my peers were at the peak of enjoying football game behind our family house. The play was interrupted by a wild scream of ladies from inside the house, on hearing that, we all left the football and rushed into the house to see what was amiss, suspecting the scream to be as a result of a child falling into a well, fire out break or the regular spirit seizure of jin that women suffered in those days. On our arrival at the scene, we were shocked with pity by differently witnessing something else: it was a half slaughtered fowl with blood gushing out from its throat, which was trying to run but its legs could not support it. My elder sister along with her friends just stopped screaming on seeing us and had started crying. My sister was standing and shivering with fear with the blood stained knife still in her hands. Around her were a bevy of her confused friends. No sooner we understood this than we all joined them in the cry which created a cocoponous noise at the scene. Our father was not in the house, and nor any other grown-up member of the family. Before you could say "Jack Robbinson" our neighbors started trooping in to see what was wrong. The first man that came snatched the knife from its holder and slaughtered the bird in the appropriate manner. And the rest of the people pacified us, as a result we all stopped crying and wiped our tears. What this writer is saying essentially is that, despite the devine/universal permissibleness of slaughtering a fowl and the prospect of enjoying it when it is ready, there are some classes of human beings/Nigerians like children and young girls who are very shocked by this lawful slaughtering. If this narration is anything to go by, then the life of a single human being/Nigerian is even 'beyond' sacred! Is there any point in creating violence in the course of campaign or the like, especially if that may lead to loosing the sacred life?

Conclusively, let us keep our voters' cards safely. Vote wisely and say NO to election violence. The eloquent Hausas say: "abinda zaman lafiya bai bayar ba, rashin sa ma ba zai bayar ba". Meaning: "What peace failed to grant, violence can not grant it too". Nigeria, "forward ever, backward never". May Peace reign all the way before, during and after the elections. I strongly commend the effort of Jonathan and Buhari for signing the Accord, with the hope that their fans and all other Nigerians will emulate the surface and the deeper lessons enshrined there in, and also that it will be the panacea to the Nigerian political violence. "Nigeria: one nation, one people"!

(C) Bello Sagir Imam 2015.