In July 1969, the environs of Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United States of America were thronged with anxious spectators who loved to
be eyewitnesses of the unfolding historical event taking place there.
With bated breath all over the world, several millions of people watched on television when Saturn V rocket furiously sent the three
men crew aboard Apollo 11 spacecraft into orbit. First, it began to move round the earth only 12 minutes after it was launched at an
altitude of 100.4 by 98.9 nautical miles. With one and a half orbit completed, an engine pushed the spacecraft to its trajectory in the
the direction of the moon.
Some 30 orbits of the moon followed which gave the crew a sight of the flat and smooth landing area on the Sea of Tranquility. Soon, a little
terror loomed. About 6,000 feet away from the moon, the astronauts and indeed the control and monitoring teams were distracted with
disturbing alarms from the lunar module’s guidance computer. Wrong signals had been passed to the computer due to an error in the
checklist manual, which in turn had displaced the rendezvous radar switch. It was generally accepted that this singular action might have
led to the failure of the lunar mission. In fact, fuel propelling the module would also have finished, leading to a disaster, if there had
been a delay for just 25 seconds. However, in the event of an accident, there were solid arrangements made by and for the three men.
Lunar module pilot, Col. Edwin Aldrin Jr, 39, had with him his supposed last communion prepared on earth by his pastor before
departure. A clergyman was nearby to commend the souls of the three men to the deepest of the deep in a public ritual. President Richard Nixon himself was ready to make an emotion-laden condolence calls to the astronauts wives, to be followed by other posthumous preparation.
But then, the world was relieved when a message came from the moon, the first and most important one ever to come from another planet to
the earth. Loudspeakers in the NASA office in Houston crackled with the strained voice of the 38-year-old leader of the crew, Colonel Neil
Armstrong: “The Eagle has landed. We are breathing again. Thank you.”
What was a more important record had been made by the successful landing of The Eagle. Returning to the earth safely was the next
issue, but the success of the trip was secondary to the astronauts, having landed The Eagle without a hitch.
The idiom is now used as an expression in concurrence with an objective, whether such objective is a good one or otherwise. It was
made popular in foreign schools to pass a message. Whenever an announcer spoke through a megaphone: “The Eagle has landed,” teacher beamed at one another, knowing that their monthly salaries had arrived. The students too got the message and eyed their teacher with giggles – Mrs Wiggleton is gonna have her paycheck. Another successful landing, that is important to Nigeria, as the one of 1969 was to the whole world, was witnessed on the 29th of May.
The crew size of this Eagle was just two, namely: President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Let’s not get it wrong. The landing did not take place on the day INEC declared the duo winner of the April 11 presidential election. The period in-between the declaration time and
swearing-in time was the orbit period for the Eagle’s two man crew.
The price paid for the successful lunar trip was, as the command module pilot, Michael Collins put it, ‘blood, sweat and tears of a number of
people’, whereas destruction of lives and property, before the just concluded epoch making transition, were the offerings made here,
though, glory to God, in a very minimal quotient. The journey did not begin with APP 2003 or ANPP 2007 or CPC 2011 or when four political
parties merged to form the APC in 2014 and contested in 2015. The journey began with the lead pilot’s discipline, transparent honesty
and integrity from way back.
His principles, borne out of personal determination not to collec what is not his, and what he has not worked for or earned made him to
ask for a reduction in his monthly pay as a former head of state. He did this long ago, to me, not for a future electoral campaign or to
ingratiate himself with future electorates. While many contenders depended on having their way through ill gotten money, he gave the delegates and voters nothing but his long nurtured integrity an undiluted honesty. Here is a man who, whether we like it or not, leads disciples in their millions – men and women who would conveniently become religious followers if the President dares tag himself a new religious leader with some new doctrines and codes of worship. He’s seen as frugal and straight in conducts as his physique.
The accolade given to him is much, yet he has made sufficient investment on his principles in a society that does not really care about where you
throw yours. It’s an indelible investment that is yielding and drawing more and more disciples in great number. Those who like him do so with
fanatical propensity while those who dislike him stand on the extreme with near equal measure, though now with a deflating fury. On the
other hand, Vice President Osinbajo, an erudite scholar, like Gani Fawehinmi, is a man noted for uprightness, a man who says what he
means and means what he says, the like-minded character who, during Emperor Nero’s reign, would write a thesis on the public board on why
the Empire needed a change, and stand by it with the chalk in his hand. The combination of this unusual tag team is gaseous that moths
and rodents who have mismanaged our commonwealth will find it hard to breathe in their presence. Nigeria couldn’t have had a better pair; a pair whose ideologies and doctrines – almost flawless – about life and stewardship are so embeded in their minds, souls and marrows, that it will take only death to snatch it from them.
Few minutes after the failed assassination attempt on the President, last July, the peaceful manner in which he came out of his car, unruffled, and inspected the damage showed he cared nothing about anything but his belief. He didn’t shout and scream, ‘security, what happened just now? why?
what’s going on? who wants to kill me? what have I done? who did I offend? No, he cares only for a change. Again, Nigeria couldn’t have been luckier.
Having said all these, and having successfully landed The Eagle, a great feat, it’s time to return to earth. Another huge task, beginning with the take off to splashdown. With the hope and sacrifices that Nigerians invested in their new leaders, everyone awaits what will become some of the monsters that chased companies and investments out of the country: the menace of Boko Haram insurgency, corruption, unemployment and power shortage. Nigerians await a change in social and economic inequality in the system.
We await how measures will be put in place to check the superfluous expenditure by arms and agencies of government so that so much more could be made available for capital expenditure. Many want to see how wars will be waged against wanton waste, unbridled corruption and fiscal indiscipline. Nigerians want an end to this egregious conditions of living. They want to feel what it is to be Africa’s largest economy. The President, his Vice and the party machinery need to bring visible and lasting change to the grassroots level by making state governors allow autonomy for loca government councils.
As the people sweep the air with green brooms, the party’s symbol, in jubilation to the victory against bad governance, the APC need not
forget its promises of 740,000 jobs for young school leavers, equipping and motivating the military, health care programmes, plans for the oldest and weakest and promoting agricultural revolution.
We want to believe in the word of the President in his acceptance speech on April 1, 2015, ‘Our long night has passed and the day-light has
broken across the land’. Like Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) posited:”Whatever is distilled to be good from the recommendations of the just
concluded National Conference must be implemented and engrafted in the Constitution.” This is a good point the new administration needs to consider.
The Petroleum Industry Bill will be an important tool to address the cases of graft in the sector, as well as create jobs and bring about
more investments.
The country will fare better if Mr. President ministers the affairs of petroleum himself, like the former President
Olusegun Obasanjo did throughout his tenure. President Buhari is quiet competent enough to oversee this ministry, having been a Federal commissioner (now minister) of Petroleum and Natural Resources for
three years. No one can call his achievement during that short period insignificant. History has been made; successes are recorded.
Let’s not forget anyone who made a contribution, no matter how little. Let’s
not forget that the eight election since independence was the most hotly contested, toughest and most unpredictable, with the word on marble that preceded it: “Nobody’s ambition is worth the blood of any
Nigerian. I promised the country free and fair elections. I have kept my word.” Let the victors and villains know that despite all odds, the
nation is glad we successfully passed through this historical transition as a united country. Sincerely: “The Eagle has landed. We are breathing again.”
. Bayo David-Solesi, a journalist, wrote in from Ikenne Remo, Ogun State.
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