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Monday, 22 May 2023 19:10

[OPINION] May ’29: A Date With History And The Fallacies Of “Stolen Mandate” - Richard Odusanya

On this day – May 29; 1999. Our beloved country Nigeria returned to the much desired democratic governance. Nigerians at home and abroad were undoubtedly excited about the events leading to the inauguration day. Yours truly, the writer of this contribution was privileged and honoured to be part of the history making events. I remember vividly my role in the Inauguration committee under the leadership of Erudite (Prof) Tunde Adeniran and other distinguished Nigerians, namely: Dame Pauline Tallen, Ferdinand Agu, yours truly and Dr Gbolade Oshinowo of the blessed memory.

Before going further, please permit me to re-introduce the above topic as “Twenty-four Years Setback” for our beloved country Nigeria. May 29, 1999. It was a date to be remembered; a date with history, it signpost the beginning of an era with a windfall of approximately $400 billion dollars from just one source of revenue. Sadly, from the crushing economic pains of the day, to the social dislocations and mounting insecurity everywhere in the land, coupled with the ignoble and dodgy power play at capital city of Abuja, a common thread runs through all these: a nation in dire straits!

Admittedly, a nation progresses or regresses on the quality and values of its leadership. Credibility, trustworthiness are aspects of the integrity most necessary for a leadership worthy to be so-called.  The reputation of Nigeria in the eyes of the outside world remains unenviable, first and above all else, because its leaders have repeatedly proved less than trustworthy. After twenty-four years of democratic government in Nigeria and each of the government came with promises to end bad governance only to end with worst form of leadership. Will May 29, 2023 restore hope? Can the hope that MKO Abiola promise Nigerians in 1993 be renewed or restored?

What is more, poverty has been weaponized as a result of corruption which is the common instrument across the developing world. Corruption ‘impoverishes and kills millions’ citizens of any country where it thrives irrespective of the wealth or resources of such a country. We know that corruption takes away resources, damages the environment, impoverishes the people, but it also kills! A land that is equally afflicted by the unimaginable level of hatred leading to unwarranted divisiveness  amongst others.

More relatively, is the 2023 general elections that has completely exposed the gullibility of many of our compatriots particularly the restive youths. How do you explain the actions and thoughts of the President-elect not to be sworn in on May 29? This is an unimaginable hallucination(s) in the minds of the Obidients movement in particular. The million dollar question is that has that ever happened anywhere in the world before and Where is the precedence? The truth is that some people got it completely twisted in their shallowness.

This delusion of theirs is based on claims they are bandying about a stolen “Mandate”. The lifetime morbid risk of delusional disorder in the general population has been estimated to range from 0.05 to 0.1%, based on data from various sources including case registries, case series, and population-based samples. Delusion is Obviously worse than Megalomania. Therefore, It’s safe to conclude that, there’s no stolen mandate anywhere. Section 14(1)(2)(a) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, states that “The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice. It will be recalled that one of the grounds both the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, H.E, Atiku Abubakar, who came second in the presidential election and his counterpart in the Labour Party, LP, H.E, Peter Obi, who came third, is relying on to challenge the declaration of the President-elect  included the fact that he failed to secure 25% votes in the FCT, Abuja.

In conclusion, I will like to share with us the golden words of Lee Kuan Yew (LKY), a Singaporean barrister and statesman who served as the first prime minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990. LKY, profoundly posited: “Mine is a very matter-of-fact approach to the problem. If you can select a population and they’re educated and they’re properly brought up, then you don’t have to use too much of the stick because they would already have been trained. It’s like with dogs. You train it in a proper way from small. It will know that it’s got to leave, go outside to pee and to defecate. No, we are not that kind of society. We had to train adult dogs who even today deliberately urinate in the lifts.” 

Finally, as we look forward to May 29 in a couple of days time with a mindset of a date with destiny. I hereby wish to join all our compatriots home and abroad to dedicated this article that focuses on the desirability of May ’29 inauguration of the Tinubu’s ‘Unity-Trinity’ Presidency as a date with history. This is to also congratulate my friend and a fellow compatriot Aliko Dangote on the occasion of the commissioning of the largest plant in Africa and a milestone achievement. This is the beginning of the 4th Industrial Revolution as captured in the ‘Renewed Hope’ policy documents.



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