At an event organized by the office of the National Security Adviser to the President and the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Inter-Party Affairs with supports from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other foreign donor agencies in Abuja, which had the theme: “2015 General Elections Sensitization Workshop on Non-Violence”, President Good Luck Jonathan identified negative political communication as one of the major causes of electoral violence in the country.
He also indentified “Winner takes all Political Mentality” and slow distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as some of the factors that may lead to electoral violence in this month’s Presidential and National Assembly Elections. While explaining the winner takes all political mentality, the President noted that, in an election where a winner scored about 52 percent to emerge victorious and the runner up scored about 48 percent, such election was very competitive. But, because of the believe and fear that the winner of the polls would take everything to himself, supporters and members of the party whose candidate came second would constitute themselves to creating problems for the winner of the election. This according to him is because they already know that, there would be nothing left for them in the new government, and as a result, they would have to wait for next election! In this type of scenario, they would be fomenting all kinds of trouble to make sure there is no peace in the land.
As a solution to the above electoral challenge, the president suggested that, apart from the winner of the polls deciding to bring supporters of the candidate that lost election in to his government on his own volition, the National Assembly should enact a law that will make it compulsory for the winner of an election to give certain number of appointments to supporters of the candidate that lost the election. He stated further that, with this type of law in place, the election would no longer be a do or die affairs, because candidates contesting election already know that even if they fail, there would still be something for them in the next government. So, with this belief, they would commit themselves to credible campaigns and avoid election and post election violence.
The other point the President made at the workshop popularly known as the “The Abuja Peace Accord” was on the slow distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) by the electoral body. He noted that, since most Nigerians are yet to collect their PVCs, if the trend continues before the polls, some Nigerians would interpret it to mean deliberate disenfranchisement , and as a result, it may lead to electoral violence. He made this suggestion before the election was shifted. He further stated that, INEC used the Temporary Voters Cards in conducting the 2011 General Elections and it was adjudged to be relatively credible, but because the electoral body wants an improvements to the successes it recorded in 2011, it has decided to use Permanent Voters cards for this year’s General Elections. Based on the foregoing, the number one citizen of the country noted that anything electronic is not hundred percent safe because of the activities of hackers andcloning machines reported to be with some persons in the country. He however charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that whatever system it has decided to use for this year’s General Election must be one that will not disenfranchise any eligible voter.
On his part, the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari urged the organizers of the event to help Nigeria conduct credible elections; while the National Chairman and Presidential Candidate of the United Progressives Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie urged the judiciary to be above board in delivering post election judgments.
Earlier at the event and in a lecture entitled: “Tenets of Non-Violent and Peaceful Elections: Lessons for Nigeria”, the INEC boss, Professor Attahiru Jega noted that why elections are violent in countries like Nigeria is because of disrespect for the rules of the game. He further noted that were such practice occurs, both the perpetration of electoral fraud and resistance to it require violence to succeed. While quoting Samuel Huntington definition of electoral fraud as the naked confrontation of social forces without the mediation of strong political institutions, Jega stated that in societies where political institution is low, social forces employ means which reflect their capacities—The wealthy resort to bribe, students resort to riot, workers resort to strike, mobs resort to demonstration and the military resort to coup. In this situation, might becomes right.
He also identified high propensity of political actors and political parties to winning and keeping power as another factor that leads to electoral violence. In this process, they create unwarranted expectations among their supporters about winning elections, thus creating what he described as “Rising crisis of expectations about elections.” Of particular note is statements like “If the elections are free and fair, our party would win; and if our party loses, then the elections are not free and fair. Such inciting statements laced in innuendoes also make party supporters to feel that the elections were undermined; therefore taking the law in to their own hands by attacking innocent election workers becomes their last resort.
Nonetheless, from the above analysis so far, one can now see that President Jonathan has thorough understanding of the peculiar electoral challenge we face in the country and is ready to putting an end to that, just the way he did in 2011 general elections which was adjudged by international observers to be free and fair. Also, the President has at various fora demonstrated that he has the mental capability as well as the political sagacity to take Nigeria to her dreamed destination if given the second term mandate.
In view of the foregoing, Nigerians must understand that the country is bigger than any interest or ambition of any of the candidates. Come March 28, if it is Jonathan that wins, let him and his supporters be magnanimous in victory and reject any emotional temptations of acting contrary and if it is Buhari that wins, let him see the bigger picture of Nigeria and never to look back, because success is the greatest avenger.
Finally, the judiciary is there for anybody to explore if failure is encountered. They must know that in any contest of this nature, a winner must emerge, but how they handle their victories and failures will speak more about their real intent. They should not fail Nigeria. They should not fail the international community who now have unprecedented interest in the country because whatever happens in Nigeria will determine the direction of Africa. Hence, whoever wins should endeavor to make Nigeria the winner.
***Comrade Edwin Uhara is a renowned Journalist and Public Affairs Commentator based in Abuja.
edwinuhara@rocketmail.com
07065862479
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