Nigerians
will be going to the polls on Saturday, March 28, 2015 to elect a new
president in accordance with the presidential constitutional tenure of
four years. The president is the most important and powerful elected
officer in a presidential system of government; he leads the executive
arm of government. He presides over the economy, proposes expenditure
and after approval by the legislature, oversees implementation through
ministers and public servants. He also has a role in the appointment of
the highest ranking officials in the judiciary. In our winner takes all
approach to governance, any interest group that sponsors a successful
presidential candidate more or less controls not just the political but
the economic, social and cultural aspects of Nigerian life.
The
2015 presidential election appears to be the most keenly contested in
Nigeria’s history particularly since the return to civil rule in 1999.
The other four elections in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 had been some sort
of coronations, just to fulfil all righteousness to affirm that the
candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party won the elections.
Apparently, the first election in 1999 seemed to have been pre-arranged
by the military godfathers to favour the winning candidate. But today,
the storyline is changing. For the first time, no one can say with
certainty that an incumbent will be returned. The opposition parties
have coalesced and pulled their resources to form the All Progressives
Congress which has presence in virtually all states of the federation.
The result is a formidable opposition taking on an equally formidable
ruling party.
The incumbent President Goodluck
Jonathan started the race early with his friends in the Transformation
Ambassadors of Nigeria and continued thereafter with a multi-media blitz
and rallies across the federation. Quite unlike the 2011 presidential
election when Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change
could not muster the resources to campaign in all states of the
federation and mount a reasonable challenge to the incumbent, the APC
presidential candidate has now not only organised campaigns and rallies
in every state of the federation but has gone a second round after the
postponement of the polls to organise town hall meetings, dinners and
second time rallies. Although the incumbent seems to have more resources
at his disposal to mount huge electronic and print media campaigns,
billboards and other reach-out, there is a clear case of a real contest
where the candidates are campaigning for votes until the final minute.
The
candidates have presented their ideas of governance and made all manner
of promises to Nigerians on what they intend to do should they be
entrusted with presidential power in the next four years. To the
candidates, I say congratulations. It has not been easy in terms of time
and resource commitments. The campaigns have pushed you to the limits.
You have put up a good fight and you have paid your dues. Now is the
time to calm down and recognise that you are engaged in the sporting
event called politics. There can only be one winner in this sporting
activity. And the fact of winning is not a death sentence on other
contestants. Indeed, the candidate announced as the winner is not the
actual winner. The winner will be the Nigerian people who will stand in
the sun and rain to cast their votes and likely wait until the
conclusion of the voting to hear the announcement at the polling booth.
This
brings the discourse to the most compelling issues. Having run a good
race and a winner announced, a good sportsperson should congratulate the
winner; shake hands, embrace and wait for another day. He should offer
his ideas at the appropriate time for improvements to governance. The
proclaimed winner should not adopt an imperial attitude or mock the
loser to provoke or deride him. It makes no sense. He should offer a
hand of fellowship and compassion because there would have been no race
properly so called, if there was no competitor. All exhortations by the
candidates and their close allies seeking to incite violence should have
no place once the results are announced. If they were uttered in the
campaigns, Nigerians are ready to forgive and forget when they consider
the words to have been uttered “in the heat of passion”. It is also not
late for anyone who has made such statements to now renounce them and
apologise to the Nigerian people so that his or her supporters would
know that those exhortations were made in error. Thus, those who asked
their supporters to stone people who use certain slogans have an
opportunity to retrace their steps.
But it would be another
issue that will attract national and international prosecution if anyone
should incite violence after the elections. Whether the words are
spoken in English or any local language, we have enough Nigerians who
can come forward to offer a good interpretation. The killings and loss
of properties after the 2011 elections should not be allowed to repeat.
Nigerian law is robust enough to ensure that those who instigate murder,
maiming, rape and looting are brought to justice and if Nigerian law
fails, the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court will be
invoked. For the young ones who will be offered money or just incited to
commit atrocities, it is imperative to understand that a plea that you
were asked by a top politician to kill will be no defence in law. Yes,
it will be no defence in a court of law manned by human beings and
considering that we are a deeply religious people, it will also be no
defence before the judgment throne of the Almighty God. If a politician
instructs you to commit illegalities, simply ask him to go and do it
himself or send his children to do the same. There is no duty to obey an
illegal instruction.
Any candidate actually dissatisfied with
the result of the polls should proceed to the election tribunals which
have been established for the purpose of adjudication. Prosecute your
case diligently and let the tribunals do justice according to the law.
For the judges who will preside at these tribunals, this is not a time
to concentrate on technicalities while leaving the substance of the law.
Tribunal decisions should seek to confirm the will of the majority
expressed through the vote and not any abstract notions of absurd
technicalities which has been the case in the work of previous
tribunals. For Nigerians who are poor and have been offered money or
resources to vote for particular candidate, this discourse has a
straight forward message for you. Your poverty is the product of bad
governance perpetuated by the very persons who are offering you filthy
lucre. Your vote is your power and the only opportunity you may have to
rebel against bad governance. So you must vote according to the dictates
of your conscience and rebel against tyranny and economic oppression
with your vote.
Fellow Nigerians, let the elections come and go;
vote and do not be involved in any madness. Let us not be caught up in
the frenzy and do things we will later regret. We did that in 1966 -1970
and the scars are still with us. There will still be a country called
Nigeria after March 2015
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