*Candidates must refrain from inciting comments, threats — Jonathan
*The Judiciary, INEC, others must be impartial — Buhari
*How to make polls credible – Annan, Anyaoku, Jega, Gambari, others
By Levinus Nwabughiogu
ABUJA—PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, former Head of State, Major-General
Muhammadu Buhari (ret) and 12 other presidential candidates, yesterday,
signed an undertaking to ensure free and fair polls as well as run issue-based
campaigns for the forthcoming general elections in the country.
President Jonathan is running on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) while Buhari is contesting on the banner of the All Progressives Congress
(APC).
They gave the assurance during a sensitisation workshop themed: “2015
General Elections: Sensitization workshop on Non-Violence”. Jonathan and
Buhari put aside their electoral fisticuffs and embraced excitedly upon arriving
for the workshop.
President Jonathan and Buhari had been engaged in bitter electoral battle in a
bid to win the February 14 presidential polls.
Apart from the duo, the chairmen of the two dominant parties, Alhaji Adamu
Mu’ azu, PDP, and Odigie Oyegun, APC, also hugged themselves in a bid to
send a signal to their supporters that violence is not part of democracy.
This came as all the 14 presidential candidates of the various parties contesting
the election also signed a peace agreement to ensure free, fair and credible
polls.
Other candidates who signed the peace agreement included Tunde Anifowose
Kelani of the Action Alliance, AA; Dr. Rafiu Salau of Alliance for Democracy, AD;
Ganiyu Galadima of Alliance Congress, AC; Alhaji Mani Ibrahim Ahmad of ADC;
Chief Sam Eke of Citizens Popular Party, CPP; Ambrose Albert Oworu of Hope
Party; Prof. Oluremi Sonaiya of KOWA party and Chief Chekwas Okorie of the
United Progressives Party, UPP.
The peace agreement otherwise known as “Abuja Accord” by the organizers of
the event essentially barred the contestants from making inciting speeches in
whatever guise that could cause the eruption of violence before, during and after
the elections.
PEACE—President Goodluck Jonathan (R), embraces retired Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari, at the general elections sensitisation workshop on
non-violence in Abuja, yesterday.
The Accord
The accord read: “We the undersigned presidential candidates of the under-
listed political parties contesting in the general elections of 2015; desirous of
taking proactive measures to prevent electoral violence before, during and after
the elections; anxious about the maintenance of a peaceful environment for the
2015 general elections; reaffirming our commitment to the constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria; desirous of sustaining and promoting the unity and
corporate existence of Nigeria as an indivisible entity; determined to avoid any
conduct or behaviour that will endanger the political stability and national
security of Nigeria; determined to place national interest above personal and
partisan concerns; and reaffirm our commitment to fully abide by all rules and
regulations as laid down in the legal framework for elections in Nigeria, hereby
commit ourselves and our party to the following:
*To run issue-based campaigns at national, state and local government levels;
in this, we pledge to refrain from campaigns that will involve religious
incitement, ethnic or tribal profiling; both ourselves and agents acting in our
names.
*To refrain from making, or causing to make our names or that of our party,
any public statements, pronouncements, declarations or speeches that have the
capacity to incite any form of violence, before, during and after the elections.
*To commit ourselves and political parties to the monitoring of the adherence to
this accord by a national peace committee made up of respected statesmen and
women, traditional and religious leaders.
*All institutions of government including INEC and security agencies must act
and be seen to act with impartiality and to forcefully and publicly speak out
against provocative utterances and oppose all acts of electoral violence whether
perpetrated by our supporters and/or opponents.”
Anyaoku, Annan, Jega, Gambari, Obi push for free, fair credible polls
Before the signing of the accord, eminent personalities including former United
Nation’s Secretary-General, Kofi Annan; the chairman of the event and former
Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; the Chairman
of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru
Jega; former Nigeria’s representative to the United Nations, Professor Ibrahim
Gambari and the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Inter-party
Affairs, Senator Ben Obi took turns to harp on the need for violence-free
election.
In his speech, Annan asked the contestants to avoid the use of inflammatory
languages to underscore the need for the country to prove its big brotherly
position in Africa and beyond with the election.
“Aside being the eighth largest exporter of oil, Nigeria has become a player in
telecoms, agriculture and in banking. She is a major contributor to UN peace-
keeping and is now at the UN Security Council. You can’t abstain from voting
and then complain”, he said.
For the candidates, he enjoined, them to “focus on party policies and not on
individuals. Avoid inflammatory languages and don’t use ethnicity and religion
to gain political sympathies.
“Nigeria doesn’t want to repeat the experience of Kenya where violence took
them back several years. 2015 will confirm Nigeria’s progress in the eyes of the
world. The stakes are high but I know Nigeria can rise to the challenge.
Nigeria’s success is Africa’s success. Nigeria has the future of Africa in her
hands, make Africa proud”, he said.
Similarly, Anyaoku remarked that the workshop was necessary due to increasing
provocative words being used by the candidates and the attendant
consequences which had unfortunately been the lot of previous elections in the
country. He said that the forthcoming election has put Nigeria on the eyes of
the international community.
“Regrettably, we cannot deny that in our country we have history of violence
occurring before, during and after elections. Already, explosion, burning of buses
have been reported in some states, and we are also witnessing increasingly
acrimonious pronouncement by candidates and spokespersons of political
parties. Nigeria and its 2015 general elections are in the eyes of the
international community”, he said.
10 causes of violence –Jega
The Chairman of INEC, Jega, among other things identified 10 causes of violent
elections in Nigeria.
He said: “In answering the question of what makes our elections so prone to
violence, I have identified specific as well as general causes of violent elections
which have been identified by scholars. In particular, I have paid attention to
the causes which are attributed in countries such as Nigeria to the tendency for
contestants, political parties, politicians to see electoral contest as something
that you have to engage in and that you must win at all cost.
“In a country like Nigeria, where there is what scholars called low level of
institutionalization, stakeholders tend to use resources at their control in the
contest for political power and Samuel Huntington said, the ‘wealthy will bribe,
the students will riot, the workers will strike, the mob will demonstrate and the
military will coup’.
“Of course, this depends on the extent which the political party, candidates and
other vested interests now try to mobilize and to win power at all cost. So, it is
very, very important to recognize that in a country like Nigeria, there are many
factors that can lead to violence in an elections.
“Attitude and the disposition of parties and candidates will determine to a large
extent whether we will have peaceful and non-violent elections. So, parties and
contestants, although have responsibility to ensure peaceful conduct of
elections. Of course, there are other agencies, the election management body
has an important responsibility. It has to do its job with competence, with
professionalism and with non partisanship. Security agencies also have to do
their jobs.
“I have identified what I called 10 tenets of non-violent elections specifically on
what we will expect. The first one obviously is internal party democracy,
effective intra-party conflict resolution, accountability, Supremacy of rules,
uncertain electoral outcome, willingness to accept outcomes, moderation of
electioneering, trust in institutional redress, promotion of inclusiveness, well
trained staff.”
INEC, security agencies, politicians have major roles to play –Gambari
Former Nigeria’s scribe to UN, Professor Gambari said that the success of the
February election rested mainly on the technical competence of INEC, the
prevailing security atmosphere and the need for the political actors to play the
game by the rules.
“The credibility and peacefulness of the impending election will depend on three
critical elements. First, the technical competence of INEC. I think that has been
demonstrated. The second concern is security. The security agencies and INEC
should provide security and sense of fairness to all the stakeholders. The
security agencies which are supporting the elections: the police and the military
must accept that their roles are to facilitate.
“The third and most importantly, the contestants themselves will have to accept
the rules of the game and to educate their supporters to encourage against
violence. These three elements will be what will, in my view, lead to free and
fair, credible elections in Nigeria”, he said.
NON-VIOLENCE—PDP National Chairman, Sen. Adamu Muazu (R),
embraces his Apc counterpart, Chief John Oyegun, at the general
elections sensitisation workshop on non-violence in Abuja, yesterday.
How parties agreed to jaw-jaw –Ben Obi
Special Adviser to the President on Inter- Party Affairs Senator Ben Obi, said the
workshop “is a product of extensive and inclusive consultations between my
Office and the ruling party on the one side and all opposition parties who have
collectively agreed on the need to come together to jaw–jaw and to agree on
ways and means of collaborating with each other in the bid to ensure that the
elections of 2015 are free and devoid of violence.
“This workshop is designed as an interactive forum of all political parties and
stakeholders participating in the 2015 elections to come together and commit to
peaceful and violence-free elections in 2015.”
Jonathan, Buhari, others speak
President Jonathan, while addressing the audience said the programme was
timely.
Going into memory lane, the president recalled the effect of violence on the
polity saying, it had wrought more harm than good.
He said: “This programme is very apt and we need it so that at the end of the
elections, we don’t need to kill people or burn our houses. I believe that we will
get there if we all decided to do what is right in this country. I am quite pleased
because the emphasis here is electoral violence, not electoral malpractices.
“For electoral malpractices, the courts can help to some extent, but there is
nothing the courts can do about electoral violence. If a property is burnt, it is
burnt. If you identify the person, he can be charged for arson, but in most
cases, mob action is always difficult to control not to talk about people that
were killed.
“If you look at the history of our elections, we were told there were significant
violence in the elections of the First Republic and that violence led to the
collapse of the First Republic. In the Second Republic key actors in the political
parties were relating well at the beginning. After the elections, governors from
different parties were relating, but as the second round of elections were
coming, the behaviour changed and people started abusing and insulting
themselves. I was not surprised that the Second Republic did not last when the
politicians started abusing themselves, and institutions.
“If you looked at the 2011 elections, we approached it better. I am quite pleased
that a number of civil society groups are here. It was generally agreed that the
2011 elections was quite better than any other election in the country and for
that, we thank Prof, Jega and his team. Even then, after that election, there
were violence in some parts of the country.
“In Kano, property were destroyed. In Bauchi State, 10 Youth Corps members
that were involved in the election were slaughtered. Then we asked, what led to
this level of violence? The violence came when the results were being
announced and not on the day of the election.
“The results from those states had been announced and towards the end, it was
clear that a particular candidate was going to win, violence erupted in Kano and
Bauchi and we asked, why should there be violence? The only thing one can
deduct is that, you can’t say that there were malpractices to favour the
candidate that won because in Kano, we got 26 per cent of the votes. In Bauchi,
I got 15 per cent of the votes.
“Even in states that were opposition, where we got more than 50 per cent, there
were no violence. So, you see that what lead to violence sometimes is not
because of electoral malpractices. There are some other causes of violence.
First is the factor of the politicians. I believe that one of the key things is the
provocative statements we make and when we are making these statements, we
forget that the younger ones are listening.
Your followers who call themselves your fans are listening to you. We threaten
our opponents.
“A governor came to me and said that a governor in another party told him that
immediately they take over government, he will go to jail. If you are now
threatening somebody that he will go to jail if you take over government, that
person would want to fight as if he is defending himself from going to jail. I am
not talking about the Presidential candidates, but our followers. My conviction is
that for those of us who are politicians, we must avoid provocative statements,
we must avoid threatening ourselves.
“The other factor is that of the religious leaders who preach the hate message,
instigating their followers to be confrontational and sometimes, label some
candidates as the enemies of their fate. If our religious leaders do that kind of
preaching, what do you expect?
“We always follow what our religious leaders say and if our religious leaders
keep preaching such hate message what do you expect? in that instance, your
followers are not going into the election based on internationally known election
principles, they will think they are going for war.
“There is also the pronouncement of our traditional rulers who make
provocative statements as if they want to divide the country. This has never
helped because as leaders, you have your subjects and followers. When you
make these provocative statements, you are indirectly instigating them to
become extremely violent”, he said.
The way forward
He continued: “What is the way forward? How do we make sure that, as a
nation, we minimize violence if we cannot completely ignore it? I agree that we
must not gather the world to discuss electoral violence again. But if we must
not do that, we must do certain things to stop it. We have a few weeks to
elections and so, there is really nothing much we can do except to strengthen
the institution and advise ourselves on how we should conduct ourselves.
“For the government, which I am heading, we must also strengthen the security
even though we have challenges because of the situation in parts of the North.
INEC also has a key role to play. There are certain things happening now that if
not properly handled could lead to violence. First, a number of Nigerians are
complaining that they don’t have the PVC. If some people don’t have voters’
card, the assumption is that from the beginning, INEC is going to rig the
election and there is the tendency for those people to go violent. I have
mentioned it to the INEC chairman to make sure that every eligible Nigerian
votes. If they are not able to make sure that every Nigerian votes, that is a
recipe for violence.”
Buhari speaks
Also speaking, Buhari recalled his experience in the court and said that unless
the judiciary shun political biases, tendencies were that elections in Nigeria
would be continued to be rigged.
“Some of the speeches so far are base on hope. Some of these hopes are in the
files because of our nasty experiences. What happened in 2003, 2007 and 2011
when we contested the general elections and ended up in the Supreme Court;
these three Supreme Court judgements are available with the government
printers for all those who are really serious to know what is happening in our
political development. When the military eventually surrendered to the multi-
party democratic system 16 years ago, we hoped that we should have learnt
from the developed countries that went through the painful processes of
stabilizing their system rather than insisting on making the same mistakes.
“I will give a few examples which I am sure most of you will recall. In 2003,
when we disagreed with the elections, we spent 30 months in court. Out of
those 30 months in court, I only missed four sittings. The first time was when
we went to bury my Vice Presidential candidate, Chuba Okadigbo while I was
out of the country on the other three occasions.
“In 2007, we spent 18 months in court and when we eventually reached the
Supreme Court, the seven Justices of the Supreme Court were divided on it.
Three of them said they annulled the elections because it was not conducted
according to law; three others said yes, there were flaws, but all the same, the
ruling party won the election. The Chief Justice of the Federation then looked at
them and cast his vote for the second group and so, we lost 4-3.
“In 2011, I said that I, as Presidential candidate will not go to court, but I made
sure that my party went to court and we spent about nine months again and it
was the same story. There was no way the ruling party will lose judgement.
That was painful especially when you considered what actually happened on the
field. For example, from two states in the northern part of the country, we were
lucky to get competent party agents.
When results started coming in for these states, they tried to announce the
result that were announced or physically brought to INEC office after going
through the collation centres.
“They compared the results against the INEC register in those states and
entered them into the clear outer and the computer; and the popular adage that
garbage in garbage out manifested itself. What came out was that the
Presidential candidate of that party was programmed to lose 40 per cent of its
score and in the other states, it was 26 per cent. They showed it to INEC which
asked the party to officially write a complain and we wrote. We were given the
assurance by INEC that they will look into our complaint. But the next thing we
saw was results being announced that we have lost the election”, he said.
Buhari faults INEC
He also faulted INEC for not complying with courts’ pronouncements, alleging
that the relevant institutions have not always followed due process inspite of
clear instructions.
“Some of you know by name Retired Justice Salami who was heading the
Presidential election panel. We made a presentation that in a number of states,
the election was not conducted in accordance with the Electoral Act and the
states were mentioned. We demanded that the register be brought to prove our
case and the panel said there was nothing wrong with that and INEC was asked
to comply. It was not produced. Justice Salami was redeployed and another
Judge was brought who reversed that decision. That has become history.
“The INEC Act requires that they register political associations into political
parties and to make sure that every person from the councillor to the President
comes through a political party. It was agreed that before every election, there
must be an Electoral Act. There was one in 2002 for the 2003 election, there
was one in 2006 for the 2007 election, there was one in 2010 for the 2011
election. Up to December 31, 2014, I was waiting for the amended Electoral Act
for this year’s election and I am yet to see one.
“So, on paper, you can’t catch Nigerians. You can only catch Nigerians on the
field.”
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
