The history of elections in Nigeria is replete with violence before, during and after polling. It has become a ritual for Nigeria to go through violence at every election since Independence. The post-independence elections of 1964 and 1965 were marred by violence. The same was the case in subsequent elections including the 2011 elections.
In 2011 elections, the violence in the Northern states that greeted the announcement of President Goodluck Jonathan as the winner of the Independent National Electoral Commission was unprecedented. There were wide spread riots and sectarian killings in not less than 12 Northern states. In Bauchi state, rioters targeted members of the NYSC who served as ad hoc staff during the election resulting in the death of 10 corps members. It was also estimated that more than 65,000 people were displaced. Coincindentally, the same two major presidential candidates in the 2011 elections are now the two main contenders in these elections.
This article is meant to lend my support to all the efforts so far made at preventing this circle of violence in elections. This is imperative considering the ongoing insurgency in the North-East and the prediction of a possible disintegration of Nigeria in 2015. The sudden fall in oil price at the international market and its negative impact on the economy of the country are not helping matters. All of this demands that every step should be taken to avoid violence particularly post-election violence in 2015 otherwise Nigeria might be on the road to Golgotha.
It was a welcome development when 12 presidential candidates signed a peace agreement over the forthcoming elections. The agreement termed "Abuja Peace Accord", is aimed at preventing electoral violence before, during and after the elections. Present at the signing ceremony were former Secretary Generals of the Commonwealth and the United Nations, Chief Emeka Anyaoku and Kofi Annan, respectively.
The International community was not left out of the efforts at preventing electoral violence in the country's elections. The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, had to rush down to Nigeria to have a closed-door meeting with the two main presidential contestants. In the same vein, the President of ECOWAS Commission Desire Ovedrago, led a delegation that met separately with President Jonathan and Buhari in Abuja. During the meeting the ECOWAS Commission cautioned the two presidential candidates to desist from using hate speeches capable of overheating the polity.
Similarly, a former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, has seized the opportunity of his recent visit ot Nigeria to receive an award from the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Foundation to hold consultations with President Jonathan and Buhari. At the end of his consultations, he disclosed that both of them had assured him of peaceful conduct during and after the elections. With all these efforts by eminent individuals, groups and the international community to prevent violence in the elections, it would be a big tragedy if after March 28, Nigeria should descend into post-election violence. In such a situation, we will have nobody to blame but ourselves and we would not likely get sympathy from the International community.
Let me conclude by reminding Nigerians of the word of that soothsayer, Spurinna, to Julius Caesar to "Beware the ides of March." The ides of March is a day on the Roman calendar that corresponds to March 15. It was marked with religious activities but became popular as the date Julius Caesar was assasinated in 44BC. The soothsayer's earlier warning to Caesar to "Beware the ides of March" and the latter's subsequent assassinationon that day have turned the day to be regarded with a sense of foreboding. Nigeria's Ides of March is March 28. Before now, the "soothsayer" had warned Nigeria of a possible disintegration in 2015. In view of this, I hereby call on all Nigerians particularly the politicians not to allow the efforts of our friends and well wishers particularly the international community to be in vain. Let us all heed the days after March 28. May the election be free, fair, credible and peaceful and may the loser accept defeat in the interest and stability of Nigeria.