A major Nigerian group is to inaugurate a committee of prominent Nigerians to campaign for 31st March of every year to be celebrated as a national holiday in Nigeria in recognition of the critical role that Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan played that day in saving Nigeria from disintegration. In making this announcement today in New York, Dr. Chika Onyeani, Chairman of the Diaspora Nigerians worldwide, said that some Nigerians are yet to understand the impact of the action President Goodluck Jonathan took on the 31st March, 2015, when he courageously picked up the phone, called his main presidential opponent Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to concede and congratulate him on winning the March 28th presidential election.
“By the singular heroic act of picking up the phone, calling Gen. Buhari to concede and congratulate him, Goodluck Jonathan changed the cause of Nigerian history; Jonathan saved Nigeria from disintegration, because had it been the other way around, we would today not be talking of a peaceful Nigeria,” said Onyeani.
“What Jonathan did has no parallel in Nigerian history. We should recognize that and that date must be commemorated as the day that a humble man decided to be above politics, to be above personal ambition, to not listen to political acolytes who wanted to maintain their own fiefdoms at the expense of the populace, but decided that the continued and peaceful existence was beyond own ambition to stay in office. But let’s not just put the onus on Jonathan’s call, but we must respect the fact that the call had to be received and accepted.”
“We should remember that 2015 was not an ordinary year for Nigeria, it was not an ordinary election. We should remember what had been forecast by doomsayers, that Nigeria would break up as a country. Instead, today Nigeria has become a shining example to Africa as a matured democracy.”
“Today, we are seeing political opponents following in Goodluck Jonathan’s footstep, picking up the phone, conceding and congratulating their opponents, lowering the political temperature in the country.” This is a new day in Nigeria, that politics has been removed from a “do or die” gladiator sport.
Said Onyeani, “Not all Nigerians would agree that March 31st should be a national holiday, but I believe that if they really thought through what happened, that they will eventually agree that that day needs to be celebrated and commemorated as a national public holiday. Let our history books reflect that, let’s begin to celebrate that day as a public holiday to remind our children young and unborn how the country that day was saved from disintegration.”
On the modalities on establishing March 31st as a national public holiday, Onyeani said he recognizes the difficulty of such a task. It has to go through due process. It would first have to be introduced in the House, and then eventually to the Senate. Of course, both houses are controlled by the All Progressives Congress members. So, as this is beyond party politics, both parties would have to be lobbied. Even if such a bill passes both houses, it would still require two-thirds of the states to approve it before a President could sign it into law.
Onyeani said, “Listen, this is not going to be a one-day, one month or even one year campaign, but I believe when all the necessary approvals have been obtained through this campaign, President Muhammadu Buhari would graciously sign it into law.”
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