In an interview with select media houses in Lagos today, outgoing
governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Fashola said President Jonathan's
decision to concede defeat after the presidential election helped to avert
evil in Nigeria. He said he sees President Jonathan's
action to concede as courageous.
"I won’t join the debate because it is a
raging debate; some say he is now a statesman, some say he is now a
hero, others say he is not a hero as he did what he was expected to do. I
will just say that first you must understand what we have become. All
of us are looking at an election. Do we normally, as a people, accept
that we have been defeated? Let us ask ourselves that question. Let me
animate it a little: can you remember how many times in football that we
lost – we can’t qualify – and some people will still be saying ‘no, if
somebody beats somebody by 20-0, we will qualify?’ And they will
continue to raise hope where, clearly, hope is gone. Logic says to you
‘this is over.’ That is us. We don’t accept that it is over. It can be a
positive energy somewhere else, to fight to the last. But in that
context, I think we should acknowledge what President Jonathan did as
the right thing. If you lose, you should concede that you have lost. I won’t join the debate on whether he is a
hero or a statesman, people will have their views. But was that the
right thing to do? Yes. And I hope that from there we can pick an
example. Was it courageous? I would think so in the circumstance that I
have created. He had to go and tell a party that wanted to rule for 60
years that we have lost and I have accepted it.
There is a saying that
while it seems ordinary to praise people for doing what is right or what
is good, we must understand that it is not just for doing what is right
or good that they got the praise or acknowledgement. It is because they
avoided evil. And the kind of evil we could have seen is unfolding in
Burundi now. The question is to ask the many ifs; ‘what if he (Jonathan)
had said no?’ That is my final word" he said
Source:
Punch
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