2011 Polls: A Post-Mortem

Before the build-up to the just-concluded April general elections in the country, not a few skeptics were sure that the exercise would be marred by irregularities.

But to the surprise of all and utter disappointment of the angels of doom, the elections have come and gone with Nigeria still very much intact. It is thus gratifying that the hallmark of previous general elections, particularly the 2003 and 2007 exercises, which were marred by massive rigging and snatching of ballot boxes, among other vices, was not witnessed in the magnitude we were used to in previous outings.

Thanks to the resourcefulness and integrity which the Professor Attahiru Jega-led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) brought to bear on the conduct of the exercise.

This is not to say that there were no cases of election malpractices across the land which were carried out by some misguided politicians and their hirelings.

But the magnitude of such misdemeanour  was so insignificant that both domestic and foreign observers who swarmed the country ajudged the elections to be the freest, fairest and most credible in Nigeria so far.

It is also noteworthy that the process could not have recorded the degree of success which it did if not for the high level of restraint exhibited by the various leaderships of the political parties, and  the Presidency, which insulated themselves from interfering in the electoral process right from the conduct of the parties’ primaries to the elections proper.

No doubt, even as the success recorded by INEC is a shared endeavour with the people and the government which abhorred all forms of meddlesomeness in the process, Nigerians deserve to pop champagne for the success recorded at the polls.

It is on this note that The Tide considers it expedient to congratulate the INEC and other stakeholders for their contributions toward the success of last month’s general elections.

The Nigerian electorate in particular deserve kudos for their resilience in waiting through the process to ensure their votes  counted.

Besides, the fact that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost, at least, five states to other political parties speaks volumes about the level of maturity and transparency which is unfolding in our democratic system, and which must be sustained and even improved upon in future polls.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, The Tide places on record, with great chagrin, the post-election violence which engulfed some states in the Northern part of the country, particularly, Bauchi and Kaduna, leading to the loss of over 500 lives, and wanton destruction of property of non-Northerners in those states.

Barbaric as those acts were, particularly the murder of nine members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), of which some are still missing, such acts go a long way to give an insight into the mindset of some Nigerians who sought political power.

Besides, the ugly development has set an agenda for the security agencies who have the duty of pre-empting such madness in the future.

All said, we salute the forthrightness of INEC in the conduct of the last general polls. We also use this opportunity to appeal to all the winners to be magnanimous in victory while urging the losers to accept their fate in the spirit of sportsmanship and for the sake of moving Nigeria forward, since electoral failure is never the end of life.