POST-ELECTION NIGERIA: PATHS TO RESTORATION AND PEACE DELIVERED BY THE CHAIRMAN, NIGERIA UNION OF JOURNALISTS, LAGOS STATE COUNCIL,MR ADELEYE AJAYI, AT A PUBLIC LECTURE HELD BY THE UNION ON THE OCCASION OF ITS PRESS WEEK ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2023
A number of court cases are still being pursued against the elections’ outcomes.
Nigeria’s elections are still prone to violence. Nigeria has a long history of violence during elections and it sadly manifested again in 2023.
Closely related to violence was suppression of voters. Also known as deliberate disenfranchisement of eligible voters.
The increased use of technology in Nigerian elections has reduced the kind of rigging that was traditional; such as ballot box snatching and stuffing, multiple voting, over voting and alteration of results,
Ethnic politics, on the rise, has been a bane of Nigerian politics for long.
Low voter turnout is another problem. Insufficient voter education and logistical challenges were some of the reasons.
Inadequate deployment of technology is also a problem.
Efforts should be made to address the lapses of the 2023 elections for better conduct in subsequent elections and to chart paths for restoration and peace in the country.
I do agree with a school of thought that perpetrators and financiers of electoral violence should be arrested and prosecuted to deter others who see violence as a viable pathway to electoral victory.
The electoral body should stick to the provisions of relevant electoral laws on balloting, collation, tallying, transmission and announcement of results in order to boost voters’ confidence in the electoral processes.
At the Post-Election Review of the 2023 General Elections with Media Stakeholders recently in Lagos, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said that there were many positive things that came out of the 2023 elections in spite of many challenges.
The commission would like to know what constraints the media experienced right from the process of accreditation, access to locations of polling units and collation centres during the elections.
INEC would also want to get appraisals on the security arrangements and advise for improvement going forward.
There are also views that INEC could be unbundled to pave way for adequate conduct of elections and relieve the burden.
For national peace, there must be equality and justice.
Peace education should be included in educational curriculum.
Peace values and culture should be promoted by establishing peace clubs in schools and neigbourhoods.
Law enforcement agencies need to be alive to their duties to promote peace.
Sustainable peace can be achieved if hunger and poverty can be reduced.
I will, therefore, humbly implore our Guest Speaker and the Panel to do justice to the theme of this lecture and widen our knowledge to create rooms for better conduct of future elections.
THANK YOU ALL
