Immediately after Bola Ahmed Tinubu won the 2023 presidential election held on February 25 there have been calls in some quarters for him to form a government of National Unity on the assumption that the events leading to the election have sown bitterness, hatred and distrust among Nigerians.
Chief among them is undoubtedly the Muslim/Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that many kicked against, but it stood its ground and went ahead with it. In spite of that it won.
So in order to assuage the sensibilities of those against that, the in-coming government should be that of National Unity, so that no part of the country would feel alienated.
Some also see it as asking the presidential candidates of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar who came second and Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP) who came third and have gone to court to challenge the victory of Tinubu to drop their court cases, accept the election and work with him.
One such recent call was made by the the Goodluck Nigeria Ambassadors (GNA) asking Tinubu to look beyond party consideration in appointing competent Nigerians across the country that will look like a government of national unity.
The Director General of GNA, Osain Matthew Azibalua, made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at a media briefing on the state of the nation.
“We believe our president-elect would not discriminate against anyone; he has shown this much as a former governor in Lagos State. He has also demonstrated such in his visits to many Nigerians after his election victory apart from his utterance,” he said.
When President Muhammadu Buhari lost the presidential election in 2007 under the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to the ruling PDP he went to court to challenge the election. He was however believed not to be supported by the party under the leadership of Edwin Ume Ezeoke.
In fact the son of the party chairman, Prince Chineme Ume Ezeoke served as Special Adviser to the President on Relations with Civil Society in Government of National Unity (GNU)
It is like some people are only in opposition not by a strong will, because as soon as they are offered a position they move and blend with their erstwhile enemies. Before long their supporters lose track of them.
Besides what does it really mean since election is a contest and a winner must emerge? He should be allowed to form his government where naturally those that have worked with him to win the election would be carried along. Unless he wants to betray them.
This is not in any way alienating any part of the country since every state must have a minister, some even two, including other positions in government. Only that some people want to benefit from what others have worked for, they want to be in the presidential villa among the ‘kitchen cabinet’. Anything less than that is not acceptable, it is marginalisation and nepotism.
Even though you may be the president of all Nigerians regardless of party, religious or ethnic differences, it is not everybody you bring close to you, especially those that have shown open hatred for you. While some may fall for this blackmail, some are actually the ones that initiate it, to move ahead or to deflect court cases.
Whatever the case may be, let’s assume for the sake of argument we have a Government of National Unity. Who are going to be the members, what are the criteria of selecting them? Are they going to be from every state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) or geo-political zone? Are they going to be from all the political parties or only the ones that have won National Assembly and governorship elections? Is APC going to be among them since it is the ruling party and as such it has a presence in government?
Are they going to address the religious ‘imbalance’ in the Government of National Unity?
Above all, who are going t benefit from such a government, the politicians or the ordinary man in the street?
In this hypothesis, there would be competition, rancor, and favoritism that at the end would not have benefited the country. Some would push their children and wives for positions.
In this regard we should be wary of Government of National Unity where a group of rivals would converge to form a common ground just to be in the corridors of power where they always want to belong.
