Daily Independent (Lagos)
Olisemeka Obeche
9 January 2009
Vincent Ogbulafor has aligned himself with the popular view that Nigeria needs to learn lessons from Ghana, a country with one-seventh of Nigeria's population, where a Presidential election produced a winner from the opposition party without meddling from the sitting President.
"The speed, understanding, rancour free, and fair election are lessons to be learnt.
"The fact that the election was won by the opposition and John Atta Mills has been sworn in as President with speed and no court action is (also) a lesson for us," said Ogbulafor, Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He reiterated that governance is about delivering the democracy dividends to the people, not about endless litigations, and "opposition parties in Nigeria should learn from the hard work the opposition in Ghana put in to win the election.
"Those of us in Nigeria need to learn how democracy can operate swiftly. This means that immediately after elections, you swear in the winners and there will be no rancour. This is an understanding of what governance is all about."
Ogbulafor suggested that there should be a time frame for election tribunals to conclude litigations.
He scolded opposition parties which "expect the PDP to go to bed because they are sleeping. If they work hard like the PDP, sure it is democracy and it is free for all. If you win, you will take it."
However, his opinion on the ballot in Ghana runs counter to that of Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, who said on Monday: "I take umbrage at our self-deprecating tendency here in Nigeria where we always think we must learn lessons from everywhere else but not from Nigeria.
"This is the home of the devil himself, nothing is right about this country, neither the politicians nor even the media, nor the church leaders, nobody is doing right here, we must keep learning from them everywhere. I am sick and tired of that."
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