DECORUM IN ELECTION CAMPAIGNS

Signing peace pact is easier than dealing with violence. Unrestrained comments by politicians still pose serious threat to peace

Part of the expected benefits of the Peace Pact recently signed by the major contenders in the forthcoming elections is decorum in the use of language during campaigns, as well as visible indications that there would be no recourse to violence on the day of voting. Available evidence suggests that all is not well, in terms of solemn commitment to such ideals. That is why all stakeholders must now caution their supporters, in this case including family members, from intemperate language and indiscreet public commentary that could inflame passions and sow the seed for violence before, during and after the elections.

We note, for instance, the recent offensive, inappropriate and unjustified remark of the wife of the President, Mrs Patience Jonathan, that Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate, is “brain dead”. The lady is not a medical doctor and no professionally certified person or facility has examined Buhari to ascertain his health condition to warrant such conclusion. Worse still, Mrs Jonathan was also quoted as having said that supporters of her husband’s opponent and the APC should be “stoned”.

This is reprehensible in every way and bespeaks deliberate mischief and political intolerance. Mrs Jonathan’s utterances also violate the spirit and letter of the widely celebrated commitment of all stakeholders to greater decorum in the coming elections. It is sad that the wife of the president should be making such statements on the heels of the consistent public condemnation of similar intemperate utterances by Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on behalf of which he was presumed to be speaking. To find Fayose’s disposition echoed in the public submissions of Mrs Jonathan has the unintended effect of giving the impression that the

THE TENDENCY TO PRESENT THE PRESIDENCY AS JUST ANOTHER SOCIAL REALITY THAT NIGERIANS ARE FREE TO INSULT AND DEMONISE HAS THE NEGATIVE COLLATERAL DAMAGE OF GIVING YOUNG NIGERIANS A WRONG ORIENTATION REGARDING THE RIGHT ATTITUDE TOWARDS HALLOWED INSTITUTIONS OF STATE

governor is actually acting at the president’s behest, notwithstanding public denial by his campaign.

We note with sadness that the opposition has not been a model of decorum either. There is, for instance, no excuse for the growing disrespect of the person and office of the president. In particular, the tendency to present the presidency as just another social reality that Nigerians are free to insult and demonise has the negative collateral damage of giving young Nigerians a wrong orientation regarding the right attitude towards hallowed institutions of state. Elections will come and go but the ideals of responsible citizenship will suffer if Nigerians are made to believe that there are no rules of engagement in the matter of competition for elective office. The diminution of hallowed offices in the land, as well as the unnecessary bitterness and hate that would arise and linger long after the votes have come and gone, portent ill for peace and national unity.

It is also in this regard that we urge the Director of Media and Publicity for the Jonathan Campaign, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, to be more circumspect in his utterances. We know that he has a job to do as the chief spokesperson for the campaign, but he must not allow Nigerians to get the impression, through him, that the president welcomes the name-calling and inappropriate language that have been his stock –in- trade since the beginning of the campaigns. Fani-Kayode has every right to a position on public issues, but he must now deliberately and consciously weigh everything he wants to say, to ensure that it does not detract from the dignity of the office of his principal in addition to undermining the decorum expected in the on-going political process.

What should not be lost on critical stakeholders is that there is a thin line between the use of inappropriate language in the run up to an election and the use of physical violence during the actual election. The forthcoming elections present an opportunity for the nation to demonstrate to what extent it has internalised the fundamental principles of democratic engagement in the last 16 years.

Lack of decorum and signs of political intolerance will be proof that not much has been learnt. And that would be unfortunate indeed.