With just a day to the gubernatorial and house of assembly elections, I just want us as Nigerians to think of the above topic and sue for peace.
Conflicts and wars whether fought by siblings of the same house, or between two different tribes or countries is as old as man's history. From the killing of Abel by his brother Cain in the bible days to the various intra/inter tribal/ ethnic wars, civil wars and even the world war 1 and 2, conflicts no doubt leaves as its footage wanton destruction of lives and properties and a devastation so huge that sets a people and her economy many many years backwards.
Conflicts which mainly arise due to intolerable differences of opinion/disagreement, feelings of injustice, betrayals, oppression and an inability to come to a middle ground in compromise has never had any beneficial outcome in comparison to peace. A wise man once said that it is better not to go to war, than to win a war. The loser will always have a contempt toward the winner , and will hope for an opportunity in the future to fight again to win. Besides, you may win the war, but
come out of it with bruises, wounds and permanent scars, and some pains which may never heal. WHERE POSSIBLE, PEACE IS ALWAYS SUPREME. Avoiding conflicts require extreme maturity,
tolerance, compromise, some measure of humility and a will to give peace a chance. This may be
difficult but not impossible as shown recently by our outgoing president, HE DR GOODLUCK
EBELE AZIKIWE JONATHAN. He may not have performed up to our expectations and indeed some
persons may describe his almost 6 year reign as woeful (not my opinion), but no doubt his
statesmanship act of conceding to defeat even as an incumbent African president and making
'that call' that forever or at that moment doused the mounting tension in the country before INEC
had announced the winner of the presidential polls is unparallelled amongst African leaders.
This was in the face of much pressure by some of the presidents inner circles and top brass who
we hear amongst other things gave evidence of electoral malpractices in some states in the
North and indeed the president had himself had a firsthand experience of the failure of the card
reader when it could not accredit him and his wife even after 30 minutes and 4 different card
readers used., etc. Though some have argued that he didn't have a choice in view of the
international pressure already mounted on him, but that reason may not suffice if we know our
history very well and the attitudes of African leaders. There where many possibilities and options
theoretically available and indeed even the opposition had said that there greatest fear was that
the ruling party may not concede defeat. This may be the reason for some propaganda of a
purported palace coup being planned as it became obvious that the ruling party may have lost the
elections. Furthermore, the act by Elder Godsday Orubebe a PDP rep and from the same region
with Mr President- Niger Delta that stalled the INEC results announcements for about 30 mins did
well to further heighten the tension across the country as this may have been misconstrued as an extension of the president's body language in thwarting the electoral process, but as we later heard, it took the personal intervention of the president to call him to order.

Lets not forget that 2015 had been predicted by some to be the year Nigeria will disintegrate. Also, there were lots of prophecies that claimed that the 2015 elections will be marrred in much voilence and bloodshed. Indeed the campaigns leading to the elections were the fiercest the country had ever experienced with campaigns of calumny and hate speeches and propaganda
very much widespread from the major political parties. Also the main opposition party had
threatened to run a parallel government if the polls be rigged in favour of the ruling party and their
presidential candidate now the predident elect was quoted to have said about 2 years prior to the
elections that if the polls be rigged this time around, the dog and the baboon will all be soaked in
blood. It wasn't a threat takenly lightly considering the post elections voilence that erupted after
he lost the presidential elections in 2011. The voilence was perpetrated mainly by his supporters
who felt they lost because the elections were rigged and it affected about 12 Northern states, and about 800 lives were lost mainly christians which were perceived to had voted against their candidate.
Also the shift in the elections by 6 weeks was seen by the opposition as a deliberate attempt to scuttle and democratic process in the face of an imminent loss by the ruling party and the the
Threats by the Niger delta militants to blow up the pipelines and return to the creeks should there
brother fails to be re elected all helped in increasing the tension and placed Nigeria at the
precipice of disintegration.
BUT all that is now history because one nan decided against all odds to give peace a chance. He
had repeatedly said that no Nigerian's blood is worth the ambition of any politician. It required
great sacrifice, courage and patroitism to have toed the path he followed but we are the better for
it. Indeed the peace we now enjoy 13 days after the presidential elections is a victory for Nigeria
and our democracy. Sometimes I'm tempted to imagine where we would have been if we did not
go into a civil war in 6 july 1967 that lasted for 2 and 1/2 years . I do wonder what huge positive
impact would the over 2 million southeasterners who died during the war had contributed to
Nigeria. Was there a way Ojukwu would have gone about it to avoided the war? What if he d had
decided otherwise.? Also I still occasionally think and imagine were 23years of democracy would
have kept us as a Nation if only June 12 presidential elections was not anulled. Maybe with the
acclaimed success of such a free and fair election, by now we would have perfected the act of
conducting a free and fair election using modern technology . Also how would the inputs of the
great politicians that we had shaped our political history if only they were allowed to play their roles then. All these may have been possible only if IBB had acted like PGEJ.


Well, PEACE IS SUPREME. As we go into the elections tomorrow, may our politicians take after the example of the president. May the people's wish carry the day. May they be positively triumphant
in victory and gallant in defeat. After tomorrow, life will still continue. Politics is not a do or die
affair, its only a pathway to have an opportunity to serve. NO POLITICIAN'S AMBITION IS WORTH
A DROP OF BLOOD OF ANY INDIVIDUAL. LET US GIVE PEACE A CHANCE.
GOD BLESS NIGERIA

God help us in this country