Towards Violence-Free 2015 Elections

All over the country
there is growing apprehension among the masses towards the forth-coming general elections.
Reports have it that many politicians and well-to-do individuals have started moving their families  out of Nigeria so as not to be caught up in the violence they envisage might erupt after next month’s general elections. Many others are relocating their families to their villages or places considered to be safer than their places of abode.
And as the election dates draw nearer, more of such movements are likely to be seen. During a conversation with a friend who lives in Niger State recently, she disclosed that many families in that state and other northern states especially non indigenes had already made arrangements to embark on “Oso election” before February 14 and would not return till whoever would emerge the president was sworn-in.
This is indeed a worrisome development especially realizing that many people will be disenfranchised through this movement; that some people will choose to be in foreign countries when the decision of who will lead their own country is being taken. But one will not be quick to blame these people for running for their lives going by the horrifying records of electoral crisis that trailed almost all the elections we have had in the past.
Right from the period of independence till date, the country has faced a huge challenge of organising a free, fair, credible and transparent election. The inability of various electoral bodies to conduct elections whose results would be accepted by the generality of the people had always resulted in election violence which led to loss of lives and properties.
It is on record that over 800 persons including 10 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) were killed in the North during the violence that accompanied the 2011 general election.
The question then is, when will Nigeria start getting it right? Can the nation use the next month’s elections to right its electoral wrongs, minimize if not stamp out the controversies and violence Nigerian elections are known for?
Can we see the forth coming election as an opportunity to build voter’s confidence on the electoral body and brighten the country’s electoral image among its civilized nations?
Of course, these can be achieved if the political parties, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), politicians, electorate, security agencies and the government keep to the electoral rules and regulations.
It is true that President Goodluck Jonathan, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari and other presidential candidates in the next month’s general elections last week signed a no violence  accord, but such agreement will make no sense if their supporters, contestants and other party faithfuls do not guard their utterances and conduct. Since electioneering campaigns were kicked off, there has been so much attack on personalities by all the parties involved that many people are beginning to wonder where we are heading to.
Just last Tuesday, a controversial newspaper advert allegedly sponsored by the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, which suggested that the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Buhari, was a dying man was in circulation. Though PDP has disassociated itself from the publication, the political parties should put the likes of Fayose among them in total check. We expect campaign on issues not attacks on candidates.
The same applies to traditional and religious leaders who have been making pronouncements capable of further heating the polity. Let our religious and traditional leaders  use their vantage positions to ensure that peace reigns through the election instead of making utterances capable of causing disunity among the citizens?
Certainly, to reduce violence e and ensure the success of this year’s general election, all hands must be on deck. The federal government should take necessary measures to ensure that the elections are free, fair and credible, since rigging and other acts of electoral malpractices constitute the immediate trigger for anger and violence during and after election. Security agencies should not be seen to be partisan by allowing a level playing field for all contestants. INEC should carry out its duties without fear, favour or bias.
Most importantly, as the American Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle advised on radio yesterday, parties should be ready to accept the result of the election. They should place the interest of the country above party or individual interest. And youths that allow themselves to be used to forment trouble should ask their sponsors, “where are your own children”. They should ask themselves which country will they call their own tomorrow if they destroy Nigeria today.

Calista Ezeaku