Need For Peaceful Elections —Isaac Asabor

Opinion

It is not an exaggeration to say that the perception and interpretation of the game of politics by most politicians and their followers are often distorted so much that some see it as a war between different parties, and even among kindreds, especially when the same political affiliation and ideology are not shared.

Politics is somewhat seen as a war by some politicians when there are personality clashes within the same party. To some of them, campaign period is the right time for exhibiting retrogressive McCarthyism and horse trading.

In view of the forthcoming local government election on Saturday, it would be nice if all political aspirants and chieftains of the participating political parties see politics as a sport rather than as a war. In sports, there is always a winner and a loser. The loser in sports always accepts defeat with equanimity.

The question now is, is it possible to achieve electoral peace during the forthcoming local government election? Yes! It is very possible but on conditions that are explicated in this piece.

The first condition is that for a politician to go through a period of election without being at the centre of any crisis or controversy, he should be meticulously conscious of his image. In the course of being conscious of his image, he will automatically stay away from trouble. This is because image is of vital importance to a politician. Any politician that is notorious for being at the centre of crises and controversies before, during and after any electoral period may not be able to win the sympathy and votes of the electorate. It is therefore no more a surprise that most politicians have resorted to rigging of votes. If a politician has a rosy image, so to say, in the perception of voters in his constituency, there is no way he would not achieve electoral victory or political success. One of the best ways a politician can keep his image rosy within his constituency is to stay away from crises and controversies.

Any politician that appreciates public relations as a tool of gaining the acceptance of the electorate should know that what a layman may call ordinary handshakes, delivering of speeches, or making statements on topical issues will, no doubt, project his personality. Also, the totality of a politician’s public conduct would aid recall and, perhaps, provide the winning votes.

There are some politicians whose names are spontaneously recalled in our memories whenever crisis or corruption is mentioned. Whatever the activities of any politician, good or bad, would always be recalled in the memories of the people. Whatever a politician does would stick on his personality like a leech. A wise politician would endear himself to his publics (his constituency) by staying away from crises or controversies.

When a politician takes the issue of his election as a do-or-die affair, such a politician would be seen as one who merely got involved in politics because of monetary gains. Politicians who took to politics because of the pecuniary gain always see an election as a do-or-die affair or rat race. The way a politician projects his personality within his constituency in particular and the larger constituency, which is Nigeria as a nation, matters a lot, and it goes a long way to determine the success or failure of such politician in politics. Another good reason why politicians should play politics devoid of crises is that political crises would make the nation as a whole to be seen as politically volatile. It is no more news that foreign correspondents assigned to Nigeria from other countries are wont to see Nigeria as a hot beat for bad news. Negative reporting, no doubt, is really affecting our economy especially when foreign investors refuse to invest in our country because of media reports about its volatile nature.

Still in the same connection, politicians should begin to be patriotic enough to stop dragging our dear nation in the global mud. Our politicians should be conscious of the fact that our country today is internationally perceived as corrupt, uncaring and unproductive, and this has robbed the nation of international goodwill and respect. Also, it is high time we stopped opening doors of negative news to foreign media correspondents due to our unpatriotic conducts.

Even if the local government elections would be conducted some few hours away, politicians should call their supporters to order, and educate them on how well they should behave during the elections. They should let their supporters know that they are not so desperate for victories. Even if a politician cannot say it the way it is expressed in this piece, he should, with wisdom, express it through body language. Similarly, party chieftains should also call their various candidates to order by educating them to stay away from violence during this election on Saturday.

I know most of the politicians are Christians. They should religiously imbibe the scriptural injunction in Philippians 4 verse 8 throughout the election which says “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Their Muslim counterparts should also search the Koran parallel of this scripture and abide by it as well.

I am using this popular and credible medium to appeal to politicians to religiously and faithfully hold on to this scripture in the book of Philippians throughout the period of the elections. All items in their campaign programmes that contradict this scriptural injunction should be discarded for the sake of the peace of Nigeria and Nigerians. Our country is bigger than all the politicians put together.

Finally, politicians should as much as possible during the election behave like sportsmen, in both defeat and victory.

 

•Asabor writes from Lagos

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