BREAKING NEWS..................BY PROF. ATTAHEER JEGA ...... ...............2015 GENERAL ELECTION.. .... refuse to learn from history that repeat the past. Nigerians are being prepared to face another round of elections in February 2015 in order to usher in a new government that will be in place for another period of 4 years. How prepared are we, what do we need to do in order to avoid the carnage that was unleashed on the Northern parts of Nigeria and Akwa Ibom immediately after the results of the presidential election were announced to the waiting nation? Nigerians must learn from the mistakes of the very last general elections and do all possible to avoid those mistakes. As we await 2015 – the wounds from 2011 are yet to heal. From what we gather, • Hundreds of the lives lost will never be brought back and the wounds never fully healed. • Thousands of busi-nesses lost are yet to be re-started. • Hundreds of residential buildings destroyed are yet to be rebuilt. • Most of the places of worship that were destroyed are yet to be rebuilt due to inadequate assistance from both the State and Federal Governments. While these are personal losses that will never be fully replaced, Nigerians must all come together and learn lessons from the findings of the Presidential Committee – Sheikh Lemu Committee. The writer of this article was privileged to have served on that committee as well as the Kaduna State committee of seventy members that focused on the 2011 crises. These reflections therefore are made so as to draw the attention of the various stakeholders to their role in making the forthcoming general elections violent free. We draw the attention of all our politicians in this country to the following observations from the findings and recommendations of the two committees mentioned above that investigated the crisis that erupted during the last general elections. All political parties are called upon to please allow for internal democracy, by that it is meant that the following should be avoided in order to prevent implosions that will certainly affect all Nigerians. Imposition of candidates by party leadership – candidates should emerge democratically through a process that involves all card- carrying members of each political party. Agreed modalities by each political party membership for sharing political positions must be adhered to and respected by all members. For example, where there is an agreement on which zone is to fill which political office, we plead that our politicians should honour that agreement. This was a major cause of 2011 Post Presidential and Gubernatorial elections in one particular State. Our politicians should resist the temptation to enforce themselves on the electorate, we plead that they resist the temptation to remain in power or come to power at all costs! To all politicians seeking election or re-election, remember, leadership is a trust from God. The Arabs say: la haula wa la quwwata illa billahi (there is no power but God). God delegates and therefore all leaders will give an account to this God eventually. The desire to be in power at all cost brought about the deaths of 943 lives and 838 injured Nigerians following the last presidential riots! This time round, this must be avoided. Lemu’s Committee came across a state where lives were lost and property worth millions of Naira destroyed because Politicians refused to abide by a previous arrangement. This must never be allowed this time especially as parties go into their primaries. We plead with our politicians to abstain from inflammatory language and the campaign of calumny; they must not see an opponent as an enemy that must be exterminated. Political campaigns should and must be based on issues and promises that can be fulfilled. We call on those who have money among them to use their money to develop their areas and refrain from sponsoring unpopular candidates seeking political power. This has always resulted in the deaths and destruction of the properties of innocent Nigerians to the exclusion of members of sponsors of such wicked schemes! Unfortunately, no government in this country has ever either fully compensated for or given enough assistance to victims of these avoidable crises. Religious leaders should refrain from the negative use of religion as a way of getting their members elected into political positions. From our findings, this is a way many religious leaders in this country today have amassed so much wealth to the point of competing with their members in every facet of materialism. This practice has and, unless stopped, will continue to pitch one religious community against another, simply because a political leader who owns his/her being in power to his/ her religious community will always give preferential treatment to that community. For Nigerian electorate to be rightly guided, religious leaders should call for honesty, integrity, transparency on all Politicians irrespective of their religious professions. Nigerians are a religious people, the writer of this article is pleading with our religious leaders to avoid a religious war erupting in 2015 by resisting hate preaching and divisions among Nigerians along religious lines. Our religious leaders are called upon to encourage the electorate to vote according to their convictions and not to sell to the electorate any candidate on the basis of being Christian or Muslim. It is rather unfortunate that some of our senior religious leaders are today pitching one tribe or section against the other within the same geographical area. This has become very pronounced in the last few years. Various tribal and ethnic compositions that had lived and respected each other are today strange bed-fellows as a result of the use of religion to divide various tribal and ethnic groups within a given area. This has become very pronounced in certain parts of Nigeria today. The Muslims preach ummatun wahidatun (one community) while the Bible talks about (one faith, one Lord, one baptism) irrespective of tribe or ethnic origin. We plead with these religious leaders who, for selfish and pecuniary reasons are fanning the embers of racial superiority to please desist as we prepare for the next general elections. Like the politicians, when crises breakout, neither they nor their families suffer! On the side of our traditional rulers, we call for sincerity, honesty and fairness. Traditional rulers are to see themselves as fathers to all within their domains – they should be above ethnic and religious sentiments. A traditional ruler who is Muslim is not the traditional ruler of the Muslims in his domain alone he is the leader of all Muslims, Christians and those who do not belong to either of these two major religions of our country. Traditional rulers are therefore called upon to resist the temptation to side one politician against the other. When traditional rulers are seen to be fair and just to all, those being led or governed will follow suit. As the individual politician visits our traditional rulers, we plead with them to be sincere in their counsels, put the needs of their subjects to each and admonish them on the failure to carry the electorate with them on getting to power. Our traditional rulers are respected as the voices of their subjects; they are therefore to represent their subjects to all seeking their support without discrimination. When our traditional rulers play this father-for-all role without discrimination either on religious or tribal grounds, their subjects will obey and cooperate with them. Media practitioners have a major role to play as we pray and plan to avert the disaster that visited fifteen states following 2011 presidential election results. We affirm the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that guarantees every citizen the freedom of expression. However, we would plead with the Media to help avert a repeat of 2011 by displaying responsible news dissemination. We urge the ladies and gentlemen of the media to avoid false or malicious reporting and adhere to factual reporting. We would even go as far as pleading that even with factual reporting the security of our nation; peace and peaceful co-existence must be their criteria before any factual reporting is made public. Nigeria seems to be at another crossroads as she approaches 2015 general elections, the vibes are not encouraging but, if suggestions in this article to these selected stakeholders are taken seriously and implemented, we may just survive and not have another blood-letting experience like we had in 2011. The current situation calls for sacrifice from these selected segments of our communal life as a country. These groups must be willing and prepared to let go their ambitions for the well- being of this nation. Who knows, the Lord may give them a better and rewarding positions or opportunities to be relevant in the future.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 09:27:24 +0000