Lessons from PDP Presidential Primaries

The emergence of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as PDP’s candidate in the 2011 presidential election has hurriedly deposited on our national conscience what majority of ordinary Nigerians genuinely seek- a strong and united country, devoid of deep ethnic or religious colourations. Somehow, this dream has in the past been drowned in the pool of faulty electoral laws. The nation’s power brokers, who are clearly scared of the power of the ballot, have therefore invested massively to ensure that political power was never transferred to its traditional custodians- the electorates. To rob the masses of their ballot, the nation’s self-appointed kingmakers have always unleashed shallow and narrow agendas such as religion and ethnicity on the harmless masses.
But with the astronomical rise in the percentage literacy and political awareness, many Nigerians have started to ignore sectional pressures by downplaying religion and ethnicity in selecting political leaders. It is now an open fact that the strength and unity of the nation can be threatened by shallow and narrow agendas.
The emergence of President Jonathan as PDP’s candidate in the April polls has also gone further to confirm the beauty of one-man-one-vote. Money bags, power-brokers, and kingmakers will no longer dictate for the masses. This will force our political leaders sit up, knowing that their destinies are in the hands of the electorates.