The African Democratic Congress (ADC)’s National Convention may have come and gone, but its earth-shaking effects on Nigeria’s political landscape have continued to reverberate even in powerful quarters.
It was not the convention itself per se that ruffled the feathers of powerful antagonists, neither was it the fact that it held at all despite all the stops pulled to sabotage and prevent it from taking place.
What true democrats world over applauded but which got the ruling party and their footsoldiers bewildered was the fact that the convention whose planning took about just 48 hours was so successful that it has been tagged by unbiased analysts and observers as the best organised convention in our trudging democratic journey.
However, what many might not have known is that for such a convention to be hitch-free and devoid of any chaos, accreditation of delegates must be spot on without blemish or compromise. This is so because once accreditation of lawful delegates is compromised or in any way breached, the outing is bound for irredeemable failure usually characterised by bedlam that most times ends in violence.
And this is where the Chairman of the Accreditation Committee of the just concluded National Convention of the ADC, Senator Austin Akobundu, must be given his flowers, alongside members of his team for a job well done.
All through the period accreditation lasted, one could observe with admiration how he carried out his responsibility with the panache, precision, firmness, and fairness expected of a disciplined, diligent and patriotic leader.
As the most viable opposition party in the land with a real prospect of giving Nigerians a credible alternative and a new lease of life come 2027, it was not a surprise that Nigerians from all walks of life besieged the Rainbow Event Centre, Abuja, venue of the convention, in their numbers just to be a part of history. With such a mammoth crowd came the challenge of ensuring that only genuine delegates were accredited into the hall.
Unsurprisingly, a number of people desperate to make it into the hall, including those from states whose lists suffered one form of logistical challenge or the other, presented themselves for accreditation. Almost all those present wanted to be in the hall, a noble ask, though. But then there also had to be order and discipline. And since some of the names were not on the list given to the Accreditation Committee, Senator Akobundu insisted on not issuing the affected people with tags that would have granted them entry and the right to vote at the convention.
Some of them who were insistent on being accredited despite not being qualified for accreditation brought immense and intense pressure to bear on the Senator and even went as far as dropping names of his friends, associates and other powerful political figures from across the nation to intervene. Some even called such figures on the phone and asked to speak with the Senator who firmly but calmly insisted to the speaker on the other end of the phone that only those whose names were given by the Party would be accredited. The interventions came with beautiful excuses and reasonable explanations but none of them could sway the Senator to do otherwise. The rules had to be followed to the letter. And so it was.
It was mainly for this reason that there was no chaos or protests in the hall over who should vote and who should not vote as that issue was diligently handled by Senator Austin Akobundu and his team at the accreditation stand.
Such noiseless diligence and humane firmness even when confronted with monumemental pressure for favours is what leaders need to practically move the nation forward.
So, when the roll call of honour is called for those who helped to ensure that the much anticipated ADC National Convention held without hitches, and by extension saved our democracy from sliding into a one-party state, the name of Senator Austin Akobundu will surely occupy its pride of place.
(Senator Akobundu’s handshake in the picture does not only mirror ADC’s logo, it epitomises the spirit and principles of the ADC: the firmness of fairness and the fairness of firmness).
A…D…C…Arise and Shine Nigeria!
