Nations like
individuals who have recorded giant strides in most spheres of life sometimes
look backward. It is not to escape from the challenges of the present. Rather,
they appropriate vital lessons in such moments to turn their travails into
opportunities for a stellar lot in life. In that case, they appreciate the
place of history in their current march to progress. But we are trapped in a
tragic situation when we think that such moments only serve as opportunities to
gloatingly point to others the glitch in the wheel of a people’s quest for
development. Thus, we do not deny the necessity for the past to pay for its
misdeeds.
Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo
In this regard, the
current government headed by President Muhammadu Buhari is free to hold its
predecessor to account. But the danger the current government has not
successfully negotiated is that of going to a ridiculous extent. Deluded by the
notion that the past is complicit in its denial of a star rating, the Buhari
government could unabashedly blame the Jonathan government for disrupting the
president’s domestic felicity by inducing his wife to rail at his failings in
private and public.