Be informed, first, that I am not trying to play INEC here and except you are far away from civilisation, you must have known who the umpire declared winner. The unbiased umpire who in the face of undue pressure showed calmness and gentlemanly attitude like I have never seen before. 

Anyways, the "songs of praise" will come later. In the build up to the presidential election, we all agreed that the election campaign was not what we expected it to be but was a bit better than what we used to have. 

The smear campaign was unprecedented and so was the the use of new media. The level at which social media tools were deployed should actually make marketers shiver when we have a structured data analysis on it. So many things have changed, a lot are still in the works and so many others are unchanged and may remain so for a very long time. After polling the expected 25% of 24 states and ultimately the highest number of votes, the winner of the presidential election was announced. Even before the announcement, almost everybody, especially the non-partisan had done the mathematics and declared winner in their various jurisdictions. All breaking the orders of Jega. 

From every quarter you can imagine, open letters are already flying across the media and rightly so, they contain what people want to see in the new Nigeria of ours, a nation we can call our own. This Project, just like Rome won't be built in a day. 

Having made the above clear, the winner in this historic election which would have a long term effect on the structure of governance in Nigeria, is the Nigerian populace, the country as a whole. Earlier this year, I beseeched us all that we should not sit on the fence because it is more dangerous and today we are celebrating our democracy, a process that has come to stay because we all played our roles. Since the entire nation, irrespective of your camp, is the winner, a victory party would be in order though we must not throw caution into the winds as this is just the beginning. 

The election was just a part of the process, not the end itself. More importantly, the level of participation of the Nigerian youth was unprecedented as was examined in YOUTH POLITICS; IS THIS ELDORADO? and we must commend this. It points to one thing majorly; the youth are beginning to realise the role they have to play if we must salvage the remains and remould into our dream land. 

The change we want will not be instantaneous but a process. We must remain steadfast, resilient and poised to make this work. We have shown the whole world the true Nigerian spirit. A spirit of doggedness, our strength and unity as shown in our coat of arms. We rose against the Ebola epidemic and made it seem like a child's play. 

We have also created a pathway for other African nations to follow when it comes to electioneering. As a roger (a rural sociologist), I understand that a few set of people still exude bigotry and discrimination of other Nigerians, this I believe is due to the time differential in accepting change. It is now incumbent upon us that we do not leave them behind. We must bring them on this train. 

We all asked for change, and some of us argued before, change is relative and the status quo has been challenged. We have transformed from a nation where the masses siddon and look to a nation where the citizenry dictates the terms and conditions of our nation building. Ebuka of Rubbin Minds said on Channels TV Nigeria 2015 programme that there is an appreciable increase in the level of participation and monitoring by the youth. The tempo must not be slowed down. 

Only an increasing increase in the process must be preached and practised. The president-elect has his job cut out and must have planned well ahead for this day but we must not go to sleep. 

Our job of policing the government and guiding them aright has just begun. Many have posited that if it doesn't work well, we will show them the exit but I believe we don't want to continue to make the same mistake. Time is important and we must use it judiciously. Posterity will judge us all in our roles in this country. 

President GoodLuck Ebele Jonathan has given his best. We must appreciate him and reward him accordingly. I wish him all the best in his future endeavour but he must remember he still has an oath to hold dear till May 29th. Congratulations again to the winner, the good people of this great nation.