NIGERIA is currently at a critical and defining moment in
its political history as millions of citizens are set to cast votes on February
14 (presidential election) and the subsequent ones in the month – elections in
which the international community has shown a groundswell of interest. From all
accounts, the upcoming elections would either make or mar the country depending
on the way and manner they are conducted, as well as how all the candidates and
their political parties and supporters comport themselves before, during and
after the elections. In this regard, transparent, free, fair and peaceful
polls, based on international standards and the universally acclaimed principle
of one-man-one-vote, would expand the frontiers for democratic consolidation
and political stability in Nigeria. This is apart from setting the stage for a
formidable political order in the country driven by forthright leadership and
the associated boundless opportunities.
On the other hand,
shambolic elections, accentuated by vote-buying, vote-rigging, voters’
intimidation and violence, would not only cast aspersion on the credibility of
our electoral system, it would also undermine the underlying principles of
democracy like popular wish and freedom of choice. Notably, failed, disputed or
stolen election is one of the apparent reasons the democratic process in many
developing countries including Nigeria is often thrown into question. This is
because the beneficiaries of such elections, besides having an integrity
problem, are largely seen as governing without broad consensus – a kind of
situation that dwarfs people’s confidence in government and fuels political
violence, as evident in a whirlwind of political upheavals that eventually led
to the collapse of our first and second republics following the military
intervention. Again, flawed elections mostly give vent to office-holders who
look at the key issue of dividends of democracy with disdain owing to their
lack of popular mandate – a sad development that often spawns a various,
corrupt, callous, irresponsible and unresponsive political leaders.
In view of the
foregoing, the imperative for the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) to be resolutely committed to conducting credible and hitch-free
elections on February 14 cannot be underscored. Thus, the Professor Attahiru
Jega-led INEC is besought not only to provide the level-playing field for all
the candidates in the coming polls, but also to be equal to the task of
ensuring that every vote counts in the interests of democratic sustainability,
political stability and social peace in our time. For local and international
monitors and observers of the national elections, they should be perspicacious
in their assignments without exhibiting any tinge of partiality and bias, just
as expected of the mass media in their reportage of the event.
Relevant security
agencies like the Nigeria Police and Department of State Services (DSS) would
also have a crucial role to play in ensuring successful conduct of the
forthcoming elections. Basically, this is in the area of discharging their
duties and obligations in a very professional manner devoid of partiality and
partisanship in order to be on full alert to forestall acts as electoral
malpractice, voters’ intimidation and political thuggery that could throw a
spanner in the works of holding free, fair, credible and peaceful elections.
Those apprehended for such electoral malfeasances should be immediately
prosecuted by police, no matter whose ox is gored, as a salutary lesson to
others. It is on this note that the overriding necessity of a bill in the
National Assembly (NASS) for the establishment of Electoral Malpractices and
Other Related Offences Commission (EMOROC) should be given serious
consideration. Suffice it to say that until the vexed issue of electoral
offence is criminalized and penalized in Nigeria, the problem would remain a
recurring decimal that would continue to militate against the democratic
system.
On the part of
members of our political class, they are implored to eschew name-calling,
blackmail, bitter recriminations, inflammatory utterances, sectional incitement
and any form of violence ahead of the February 14 polls. They should understand
that tolerance and pluralism are the X-factors for political stability and
democratic viability, unlike intolerance, which is now putting party politics
on a violent trajectory. Having said this, politicians should wholeheartedly
view politics not as a war front or a do-or-die affair, but as a normative game
of sportsmanship geared towards promoting general good.
As obtained in
Western democracies, elections should be a hopeful occasion for citizens to
vote political aspirants of their choice, not time of palpable fear and anxiety
in anticipation of violence and the precipitate bloodshed and depredation – as
made glaring in recent years in Nigeria and other African states like Kenya,
Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and
Central African Republic (CAR). It is on this score that all political
contestants are duty-bound to imbibe the spirit of the recently signed Abuja
Peace Accord for violence-free elections, which is a good omen for the efforts
to safeguard our fragile democracy. To this end, apart from avoiding rigging
that often provokes electoral violence, they should pursue issues-based
campaigns. This is especially on how to use their manifestos or policies and
programmes to engender good governance, political stability, popular
participation, national security, peaceful coexistence, national unity,
responsible citizenry, inclusive system, economic reconstruction, functional
infrastructure and social services, sustainable development, industrialisation
and entrepreneurship as a means of alleviating poverty and generating jobs,
social justice, the rule of law and respect for fundamental human rights.
However, it is
hoped that after the February 14 elections, the worrisome issue of high cost of
governance in Nigeria would be put on the front burner of national discourse.
For one thing, this is considering that the unbelievably stupendous salaries
and allowances of certain political office-holders in the country today are a
major contributory factor in the quest for elective positions at all cost by
some politicians and the resultant electoral fraud and wanton destruction of
lives and property.
It is expected,
therefore, that a downward review of such emoluments, as canvassed in many
quarters, would be an effective way of discouraging politicians with
self-seeking intentions of gaining affluence, influence and fame from jostling
for power, while encouraging those with the irresistible urge to render
selfless service to their fatherland to join the political bandwagon.
For the electorate,
the February 14 polls are a special moment to seize to discharge their civic
responsibility by shunning voter apathy and vote selling. This is because their
votes remain their only power to effect the kind of change they desired in the
political society. What is more, unpatriotic acts like voter apathy and vote
selling would affect them in the long-run through emergence of unaccountable
leaders who would ignore their yearning for living space.
Apart from the
overwhelming need to maintain total vigilance, which is the price to pay to
ensure that their votes count in the forthcoming polls, the electorate is also
enjoined to rise beyond the confines of base ethnic, religious and regional
sentiments to enable them choose candidates with reputable track records and
common touch and who will be eager to change things for the better in Nigeria
now bedeviled by myriads of political and socio-economic crises. In other
words, they should vote for their future, not fears as often instigated by
self-serving politicians who are wont to use primordial attachments to canvas
for votes. The voters are equally called upon to guard against being used as
pawns for political violence, as no vaulting ambition of any politician in
Nigeria is worth the sacrifice of their blood, peace or happiness. And at a
time of political ferment like this in the country, with so many things at
stake, voters would have to recourse to the heavenly father in supplication to
bless them with the kind of leaders reflected in the prayer of J.G. Holland,
who said: “God give us men. A time like this demands strong minds, great hearts,
true faith and ready hands – men whom the lust of office does not kill; men
whom the spoils of office cannot buy; men who possess opinion and will, men who
have honour and will not lie; men who stand before a demagogue and scorn his
treacherous flatteries without winking – all men, sun-crowned who live above
the fog in public duty and private thinking”. So, as we vote on February 14
(and 28th), we should be watchful, prayerful and wise in exercising our
franchise as citizens.
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