13th April, 2015
The final phase of the 2015 general elections ended last Saturday, 11 April, with the conduct of the governorship election in 29 of the 36 states across the country and the state Houses of Assembly election in all the 36 states. Winners have emerged in the elections where the exercise ended peacefully and some of the losers have followed the laudable example of President Goodluck Jonathan by congratulating the winners.
For the winners, they should exhibit magnanimity in victory so that the supporters of the losers will not resort to violence. However, it is rather unfortunate that violence characterised the polls in some states such as Rivers, Plateau, Ebonyi and a few others where lives were lost. Desperate politicians who wanted to win at all costs in these states sponsored thugs to snatch ballot boxes and attack political opponents. It is time politicians played by the rules to prevent the unnecessary loss of lives during elections.
The introduction of the permanent voter’s card and the card reader was a major blow to election riggers as these brought integrity to bear on the elections unlike in the past where manual accreditation was manipulated by compromised electoral officers in favour of candidates and their parties that had a bigger warchest.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, must be commended for reducing to a large extent the culture of writing election results by politicians. Jega’s INEC has made the votes of Nigerians count through the introduction of the card reader. Though the card reader posed some challenges, the device made the electoral process transparent and a lot more credible. Going forward, the lapses associated with the use of the device should be corrected so that its use will be a permanent feature in our electoral process to prevent vote rigging and other malpractices.
As the dust raised by the outcome of the elections is yet to settle in some states where the exercise was inconclusive or marred by thuggery and other forms of violence, we urge all concerned to sheathe their swords and allow peace to reign. It is time for reconciliation after the dogfight that characterised the electioneering campaigns.
For those who won outright, it is time to settle down to plan on how to deliver on the election promises made to the electorate during the electioneering campaigns. And for the losers, there will always be another opportunity to take a shot at the various elective positions they vied for. The fact that they lost is not the end of the world. Let there be peace in our land.