BY PROF. MIKE OZEKHOME, SAN, CON, OFR.
GEJ, you are a true democrat in the truest sense of the word.More than 8 years after you left office, many Nigerians are still yearning for your kind of humane and purposeful leadership that shunned discrimination, tribalism, sectionalism, prebendalism and cronyism.
Nigeria surely prospered under you,overtaking South Africa as the biggest rebased economy in Africa and one of the fastest growing economies in the world. For the common man,life was good.You certainly made your mistakes- like us all humans and mortals.
But your gargantuan pluses far outweigh your few minuses.
God has indeed been very kind to you,raising you from a bootstrap state of nadir to the zenith of power as president of the biggest democracy in the black world. But you never allowed power to intoxicate or overwhelm you as an aphrodisiac. You showed uncommon humility and selfless leadership- a servant leader.
As a living icon phenomenon, you have exemplified the quintessence of the highest virtues and nobility of a good man. At a time Nigeria was on the precipice of collapsing under a looming electoral inferno in 2015, you placed the national interest above your personal interest by conceding defeat to then candidate Muhammadu Buhari, even when votes were still being counted.
Your immortal words before that historic occasion to the effect that “My ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian” easily placed you in the pantheon of rare heroes. The words rekindled the genre of Abraham Lincoln’s imperishable words during his 18th November, 1863 Gettysburg declaration, that “Democracy is government of the people, for the people and by the people”.
Your continuous shuttle diplomacy across the world with which you illuminate dark electoral crevices has proven you to be a world leader of respected pedigree. Through you,Nigeria exports Democracy.Happy birthday to an iconic and uncommon democrat.