Abuja peace accord and inciting political adverts

Wale Sokunbi CURRENTS
walesokunbi2010@yahoo.com
08111813039
It was an exhilarating sight, seeing the two leading
presidential candidates – incumbent President Goodluck
Jonathan of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and
Gen. Mohammadu Buhari of the opposition All Progressives
Congress (APC) – hugging each other like long-lost friends
during the signing of a peace accord on the presidential
elections, last week. Although the warm embrace of the
leading lights of the APC and PDP was largely for the
cameras, how great, indeed, it would be if the acrimony and
bad blood that characterize our politics can be pushed aside
for once, and love of country, as well as respect for the people
and the electoral process, take their place.
For once, Nigerians were not being inundated with the real or
perceived failures of any of the candidates, or the ethnic,
religious, academic and “regional” reasons why any of the
candidates should be preferred to the other. Instead, this was
just plain old Buhari and Jonathan smiling, signing an
agreement and telling Nigerians that they would henceforth
pursue peace before, during and after the coming elections.
This, really, is the way things should be. The quest for political
office should not be a desperado or “do-or-die’ affair if it is
really about service to the people. No man should break his
back and destabilise the polity simply because he wants to
serve anybody. The desperation that attends the quests for
political offices in the country are a sure indication that it is
not at all about service to anyone, but the candidates and
their sponsors who will reap bountifully from their election.
Before the signing of this accord, the shenanigans that had
attended the electioneering had been off-putting, with all kinds
of accusations and counter-accusations thrown into the mix.
The candidates, for inexplicable reasons, had elected not to
keep their eyes on the ball. Instead, they appeared bent on
digging up whatever dirty information and disinformation that
they could about their opponents, and dished same to the
public. For them, the need to focus more on what they
intended to do for the people when elected into the offices
they were seeking was secondary. There were no holds barred
in their attacks on their competitors.
But, with the signing of this accord, Nigerians expect a
change. Beyond the putting of pen to paper to eschew
inflammatory statements, Nigerians will be glad to see a
remarkable change in the conduct of the campaigns at all
levels.
The brickbats, verbal uppercuts and below-the-belt manouvres
should give way to a reasoned communication of what each
party and candidate has to offer the electorate, and how
theywould do these.
The candidates should allow the love of country and the
Nigerian people to guide their every act. As it has often been
said, Nigeria is the only country that the majority of the
people have and all hands must be on deck to keep it on even
keel.
The commitment to peaceful elections will also need to go far
below the level of the presidential candidates. It must go
down to the every level of the electoral contest and become a
bible of the candidates’ campaign management and publicity
teams. In spite of the desperation of the candidates to
demonstrate a strong support base, and the emergence of
different groups all seeking to “promote” some candidates in
expectation of some future reward, the candidates and their
parties will do well to streamline their information
dissemination strategies. This will help the parties to avoid a
situation such as happened last Monday when the governor of
Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, sponsored a most distasteful
advert which flouted the provision that campaigns should not
be based on ethnicity or regionalism. The offensive advert,
which has been generating ripples across the country, listed
past Nigerian presidents from the North-West geo-political
zone of the country that died in office, and asked, stupidly, if
Nigerians wanted to repeat the experience of a president dying
in office by electing the 72-year old Buhari into office. The
advert, an open derision of the North-west and a brazen
trampling on the graves of the nation’s departed former
leaders from the zone, is inexcusable. It is no wonder, then,
that the PDP has openly distanced itself from such nonsense.
Also, statements by some politicians last week went as far as
suggesting that former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, was
setting up a scenario akin to the Yar’Adua and President
Jonathan situation, in the hope that Buhari would die in office,
and Pastor Osinbajo, his running mate, would take over!
Indeed, such wicked thoughts support the suggestion that has
long be made in the country that politicians actually need to
have their minds examined before they are voted into public
office! This is more so as the suggestion was closely followed
by claims that Buhari was down with prostate cancer and was
planning to travel at the end of January for “urgent” medical
treatment.
Certainly, to make this peace accord work, all the political
parties must find a way to manage their information
dissemination processes to avoid the release of inciting
information that could imperil the peace pact.
MAILBOX
I think PDP and APC should be paying you for your advice. Or,
what do you think?
Don Peter Okoro,
08031386142, Nnewi
I love your warm advice to PDP campaign team. But, you
should be correcting the party directly.,09098480099
Your concern over presidential campaigns is well placed, But I
disagree on Buhari’s certificates. Since when were certificates
from military trainings upgraded to those issued by
universities? Your call on PDP to adopt your strategy is just,
considering the magnitude of problems Nigeria is facing now.
But APC should stop its spurious allegations, or else the
status quo would remain would quo will be maintained.
Lai Ashadele
08023632992