The Popular Will By Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai

Sahara Reporters

12 January 2012

The Popular Will By Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai

By Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai

Any discerning reader that is familiar with this column will have by now been able to see a common thread that runs through this column in the past 30 weeks or so. This week’s column must of necessity be on a subject of popular will with respect to the political turmoil with which the country is currently bedeviled. Let me first commend and salute the people of Nigeria - young, old, middle aged, labour, civil society, employed, unemployed, market women, and youths for summoning the courage to do that which is perhaps unprecedented in the struggle to make Nigeria better and greater during our lifetime.

It was only a few weeks ago that President Jonathan dared Nigerians by publicly boasting that he was ready to confront mass revolt rather than defer  the removal of subsidy on petrol. It is self evident that no well meaning government would affront us all that way when the foundation for the legitimacy for governance derives from the people. It was George Bernard Shaw that aptly stated that “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Most people only know this much about this popular quotation but for those who are able to dig deeper, the above represents, at best, only half of the full quotation which ends with “Except for those who learn from lessons of history” and is read in conjunction with the first part of the quotation.

Thus President Jonathan would not have allowed power to get to his head  if he had learned anything from the lessons of history.