Halting further electoral violence
08131800030
No doubt, electoral violence promotes jungle justice and discourages eligible voters from voting, making their level of participation to be greatly inhibited. The emergence of candidates becomes questionable when the political turf is left to hooligans and trouble-makers. This invariably affects the quality of leadership that would emerge at the end of the day. Good governance is only possible when truly democratically-elected representatives are given daunting state responsibilities. Bad leadership has been the lot of Nigeria, as many citizens continue to wallow in abject poverty and suffer in the midst of plenty, despite the nation’s rich endowments. National security is seriously being threatened by the prevailing acts of religious extremism, official brigandage and terrorism.
The role of local and international election observers are greatly whittled-down whenever violence is unleashed, thus creating credibility and integrity problems for election outcomes. This should not be. As a way forward, there is need for attitudinal change on why people should play decent politics, if we are ever going to get it right as a nation and get many decent people into politics, as obtainable in saner climes. Political parties and contestants should always realise that the ultimate decision of the people is what matters. Politicians should desist from lording their wills over the electorate. Law enforcement agencies should be more proactive in nipping in the bud, potential crises that may snowball into electoral violence. The practice of signing peace accord by party contestants should not be limited to presidential candidates alone but it should be extended to other contestants, to get their commitments to shun violence.
To ensure that justice is done and seen to have been done, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has requested the Nigerian government to immediately refer to the International Criminal Court (ICC), pursuant to article 13 of the Rome Statute, to which Nigeria is a state party and that all cases of election-related violence, intimidation and killings between 1999 and 2019, are initiated for proper investigation and prosecution. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should intensify its awareness, enlightenment and public education programmes on the dangers of electoral violence and sanctions to be meted out to perpetrators.
Political parties should allow internal democracy to flourish and caution their members against hate speech. More importantly, there is need to make political offices less attractive, to discourage the current penchant for do-or-die politics, god-fatherism and neopatrimonialism. Sponsors and those caught engaging in electoral violence should be severely punished in line with the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended). Being a civil offence, executive immunity does not cover election petitions and electoral offences, as per the case of Turaki v. Dalhaltu (2003) 38 WRN 54 at 168, hence, no one should be shielded from prosecution.
Drivers unions that are usually patronised as thugs and miscreants by politicians should resist such illegality. The union members are usually used as kingpins and miscreants, to unleash trouble on the people. It is common knowledge that politicians often recruit, pay and arm them to victimise people and achieve their selfish or personal agenda. Innocent victims of violence should be adequately rehabilitated and compensated. More employment opportunities should be created to keep hundreds of thousand restive youths and young persons out of the streets towards a more productive life for themselves and the society. With the announcement of the presidential and national assembly elections, it is hoped that every stakeholder would do its part to ensure that violence is greatly minimised and that votes count in the forthcoming polls.
Adewale Kupoluyi, Abeokuta, Ogun State