This nation will rise again By Olu Obafemi

Nothing in the horrendous prepa­ration for the virtual warfare of March 28, 2015 that we called Presidential Election, empowers us to anticipate the very positive evoca­tion of Martin Luther King Jr.’s declara­tive for America for our own nation, which many deemed would cease to exist this very year! Was it the uncouth political language of mutual hate inflicted by the dominant opposing parties in the election or the alarmist conspiratorial blackmail strate­gies through the spreading of unavailable and unimaginable falsehoods about each other with little or no shreds of fact? Is it the shameless manipulation of religion and ethnic sentiments where possible and de­ployable as mechanics of political warfare? Is it in the corruptive influences wrought on the traditional institutions for political support and advantage in vote-canvass­ing? Is it in the massive dollarization of the political campaign employed to whatever capacity by each party was able and en­dowed? Nothing was spared from deploy­ment no matter how hideous, no matter how indecent, no matter how outrageous, so long as it would advance the cause of the truly do-or-die electioneering that was at stake!

By the end of the campaign, two factors reined in on the electorate; total trepidation and fear for dear life in the process of exercis­ing their franchise and total awe of the after­math of the election. The fiction, palpably de­signed and branded to the level of belief, that the election was already won by either party (PDP and APC) unless the election was rigged or fraud was perpetuated by the opponent. In which case, neither party would/should con­cede defeat since the opponent could not have won the election fairly, freely and credibly. In other words, the only possible option was a stalemate to be resolved either by a military putsch or an interim government. How was this to play out and how would either of this be brought to bear on a polity whose populace was ready only to advance in democratic gov­ernance and take its place as the country that would lead the continent in its potential bid to emerge as the continent of the twenty-first century? The implication of this is that both the general populace (including the electorate) and the international community held visions for the country that were well in advance of the political designs, architecture and mechan­ics of the political class whose primary aim was the acquisition of power without due re­gard to what happens to the nation itself.

Thus, led by the discerning sector of so­ciety, the civil society and the international community, pressure was mounted and piled on the political class to move in the direction of peace and a violence-free electioneering— before, during and after elections. The Aburi Accord was signed by the fourteen vying po­litical parties with public show of commitment to the spirit and letters of the agreement by the leading candidates of the elections. Other such efforts to tease commitment for peaceful elec­tion process were put in place. Various interna­tional bodies mediated—subtly or obtrusively and heads of governments-including President Obama- remonstrated the political class to ensure a credible and peaceful election, given the strategic position of Nigeria in the West African, African sub-regions and in the global arena. In spite of all these interventions and mediations, nothing in the political horizon showed that that the politicians have either heard or were ready to comply with the wishes of the electorate and the international observ­ers. On the eve of the elections, fear was the most palpable reality on the Nigeria’s political cosmos. People had begun, many days before the elections, to move in their drones and mas­sively too, from zones of discomfort to pos­sible zones of tolerable comfort—from north to south, west to east, and so on. Then, apathy was imminent and suspicion of the eruption of violence in the election process and its after­math was the more realistic expectation than outright peaceful outcome of the elections. All of these at the eve of the elections.

Then, the turnabout, which we may glean from what I have said earlier about the observ­able anxiety of the Nigerian people to have a democracy that works, either through the change that the opposition has promised with­out laying out the strategic plan and structural proposals for accomplishing it or through the continuation of the incumbent government’s transformation agenda in a more purposeful way, which also has not been clearly articu­lated to make them believable or convincing. There was determination in the streets to have the election and to keep their nation, one way or the other. I had observed the elections from Lagos. I noticed that the streets were virtu­ally empty except the for the presence security people who were minding the streets and en­suring strict compliance with the rules of the election as firmed out by INEC. Civil and dis­ciplined and non-bullying. That was the first surprise, contrary to stories pre-election that the army and the police would be deployed to cow the opposition or intimidate the electorate or both.

Then at the polling stations and units. Where all the officials and materials were in place for accreditation, there was apple-pie orderliness. There was admirable patience and comport­ment by the voters. Where the materials were not to hand or where the INEC officials were not there, there was anxiety but there were no violent reactions or any form of disruptions. I was pleasantly taken aback by the unforced discipline, tolerance, patience and determina­tion to wait it out and perform the civic rights of voting, no matter how long. And in Lagos, in Somolu! Unbelievable. I quickly made some calls to compare notes with colleagues in oth­er parts of the country—in Sokoto, Kaduna, Onitsha and Awka. Same story, with locational variations depending on the kind of challenges faced. There was determination to participate in electing their new leaders without distrac­tion or derailment. In a particular polling unit, at about 10am, the officials were not in sight. As we appeared, many of the anxious waiters rushed to me to lay their complaints not know­ing that I was an observer, not a monitor nor an INEC official. We acted promptly to make unofficial contacts. At another unit, there was going to be a little disorder because the officials were giving preferences. The military standing aloof and afar were contacted and they pointed at the police station nearby. They would not intervene. They were under strict instructions not to go near the polling places with their guns unless law and order, in the form of violence, had broken down. They would not budge! The security was generally civil. The police did not carry any arms and the voters cooperated appre­ciably. I felt that something positively strange, something unusual was going on but I could not put my finger on it. I saw a new spirit well­ing up among Nigerians on the streets of Lagos during an election. What it was, where it was coming from and how it will play out, I could not tell. I found that this was not an isolated case but a general phenomenon was raging. All over the country, except in a few isolated cases, like what happened in Port-Harcourt, the election was peaceful. And in spite of the technological challenges of failing card readers here and there (yet there was a general consensus that INEC’s card reader’s innovation to check-mate rigging should continue to be used ad perfected), the election was remarkable credibly and peaceful and welcome!

SUN

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