It was a great relief for millions of apprehensive Nigerians watching President Goodluck Jonathan and the presidential candidate of the leading opposition party, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, hugging on television last week. Both men were seen in a warm embrace with hearty smiles after signing what is now known as the ‘Abuja Accord,’ which commits them and their political parties to peaceful electioneering campaigns, peaceful polls and effective management of the outcome of the 2015 elections to ensure that there is no outbreak of violence.
Credit for initiating, moderating and facilitating the accord must go to many men and women of goodwill who felt that the tone and form of the electioneering were leading the country toward a tinder box. We commend all those who contributed to this accord, including two of Africa’s foremost international public servants, former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan of Ghana, and former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Nigeria’s Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who flanked Jonathan and Buhari as they signed the accord.
By this agreement, all Nigerian political parties are bound to non-violence. President Jonathan, the presidential candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Gen. Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Peoples Congress (APC) represent the two largest parties in the country. One of them must emerge as president in the election.
This peace accord is symbolic but significant. Twelve other candidates also signed the agreement along with all the political party chairmen, thereby committing the 14 political parties to the terms of the accord. The forum for the signing of the accord was the “2015 General Elections Sensitisation Workshop on Non-Violence” jointly organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Inter-Party Affairs.
To add greater credibility to the accord, Nigeria’s development partners and members of the diplomatic corps witnessed the occasion.
Before this accord, the belligerence that defined the campaigns of the two leading candidates had been unsettling to many Nigerians. Threats of a parallel government and other warlike inflammatory statements had kept many Nigerians on edge. There was suspicion that large numbers of small arms and light weapons were finding their way into the country. This was in addition to the jihadist onslaught of Boko Haram, reputedly the most bloodthirsty terrorist group in the world.
We wholeheartedly support this accord. The need for peace during and after the elections is paramount because, as Kofi Annan said, Nigeria cannot be allowed to slide into chaos for the obvious reason that it would destabilise the entire region, if not the whole continent. The brief conflagration which followed the 2011 elections was disastrous. Its scars are still being felt till today and many of its victims are just now receiving compensation for their pain and suffering.
We commend President Jonathan and General Buhari for signing the accord and urge them to abide by it. Nigerians count on them to discourage violence, intolerance and inflammatory statements capable of raising tensions in the country, and this accord should guide their actions and reactions.
Let there be a sincere commitment to peaceful elections. The commitment, we must say, should not only be at the level of the individual candidates, but also include that of their campaign teams. In that regard, the candidates and their parties must frown at, and stop the increasing use of inflammatory political advertising and other distasteful hate campaigns by their supporters.
The accord will not be worth the paper on which it is printed if distracting and hateful communication continue to come out from the candidates’ campaign offices.
Nigerians expect the political leaders to act in consonance with the accord they signed. We expect them to eschew every impulse or temptation to violence. No electoral victory is worth a drop of Nigerian blood. Certainly, there will be life after the elections.
The inadequacies of the Electoral Act in relation to electoral violence are, however, quite glaring and demand the earliest revision. The prescribed punishment for offenders under the act seems more like a slap on the wrist. We urge Nigerians to use every opportunity to remind one another that violence cannot be part of a free and fair election because it contradicts free choice which is the basis of democracy.
