When the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Atiku Abubakar failed to show up at the peace signing agreement that will guarantee peace before during and after the general elections, tongues began to wag. Nigerians condemned the act. But that wasnโt for long, a day after, the main opposition candidate was at the Kukuah Centre in Abuja to sign the agreement. To be sure, the engagement is of a noble persuasions. In a country that has had a litany of election violence, every effort to ensure peace is a welcome development.
The electorate and indeed, candidates for any election, are bound by law and morality to abide by all the regulations guiding the exercise, including respecting the will of the people expressed in credibly-conducted elections. Peace and freedom are enduring elements of a free and fair election. In the first place it is the duty of government to ensure enforcement of Law and order, and the electoral body to play according to its own rules. Where rules are followed and is seen to have been followed, the consequent corollary is peace. Where security forces perform their role without bias or prejudice, peace will naturally flow during the election exercise.
Therefore, the notion of getting candidates to specially commit to the peaceful conduct of an election and accept its outcome would sound superfluous in advanced democratic climes. But the situation in Nigeria is peculiar in so many ways. This is why the eminent personsโ group, the National Peace Committee, NPC, headed by former military ruler, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, has found relevance at the outsets of major elections
The Committee came into existence in 2015 in response to fears arising from open threats to lives and property by some political forces. Those threats, coupled with the Boko Haram insurgency and the prediction by a report of the United States Congress Foreign Relations Committee headed by John Negroponte that Nigeria could collapse in 2015, made the Abdulsalami Committee a welcome development. At the time, the post election violence of 2011 was still fresh in mind. During that time, tens of NYSC members who are election facilitators were killed various parts of the country.
Consequently, the Committee was able to, on two occasions, get the then presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, President Goodluck Jonathan and the main opposition candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to sign the accord and embrace publicly to send positive signals for peace. The country was the better for it when before the final votes were counted, the then president had congratulated the winner, Buhari, and peacefully handed over power. Nigeria emerged the winner, as peace and great relief pervaded the land.
It is not surprising that the Peace Committee is coming up once again to get the major contenders for the presidency in 2019 to publicly commit to peaceful conducts and accept the will of the people. This time, our oldest surviving former Head of State and great peace ambassador, General Yakubu Gowon, is involved. President Buhari led the way.
It s fitting enough that major and not so major stakeholders has signed and continues to sign the document. The symbolism of this gesture is an elixir that can propel other stakeholders to behave according to the laws. Refusal to sign would be a wrong signal. We know that many Nigerians are worried about President Buhariโs failure to sign the Electoral Amendment Bill 2018 to give the force of law to efforts to make the 2019 elections highly foolproof. Faith over the neutrality of the armed forces and security agencies might be flagging. But all of us must show faith in the process and strictly hold the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to its promise of conducting free and fair elections using the Smart Card Reader for all voter accreditations and transmission of results.
