Can there be free and fair elections in Nigeria? “Free and fair elections are possible,” said Archbishop Michael Kehinde Stephen from the Methodist Church in Nigeria. “What needs to be in place is a government that abides with the constitutional laws.
Stephen said this during a session on Human Security and the Rule of Law in Nigeria during the UN Advocacy Week held from 27 September through 1 October in Geneva. The Churches’ Commission on International Affairs, a standing commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC), organized the Advocacy Week.
On Friday of last week, Nigeria held its 50th anniversary independence day celebrations. The day was marred by two car bombings in Abuja that killed 12 people. A militant group that has been connected with violence in the oil-rich Nigerian delta region claimed responsibility for the bombings. Over the weekend Nigerian police made arrests in the case.
Archbishop Stephen pointed out that petitions regarding upcoming elections in Nigeria show no sign of being settled; in addition, he detected a lack of political will to enforce statutory laws, failure to comply with statutory requirements in the election procedure and, in some cases, deliberate delay in providing voting materials. These conditions, he said, are amongst the major hindrances to fair and free elections in Nigeria.
“We have to put all our efforts into fighting the practice of ‘choosing instead of electing’ that exists in Nigeria,” Stephen stressed while calling on the civil community to rise up against election malpractices.
The Rev. Dr James Movel Wuye, a co-panelist, said, “A high level of religious intolerance, civilians taking laws into their hands, the lack of adequate remedies in judicial proceedings and a lack of neutrality on the part of those in power have been the major threats to human security in Nigeria.” Wuye is a founder and joint executive coordinator of the Interfaith Mediation Centre, a forum for Muslim-Christian dialogue.
“Civics education is what we need to spread to all Nigerians. They need to know what their civil and political rights are and what their votes are worthy of,” said another panelist, Rotimi Akeredolu, former president of the Nigerian Bar Association. He described this as a way forward in getting rid of mere office-holding officials who have not been elected democratically.
Akeredolu added, “Public institutions that work in the interest of the nation and not for the interest of those in power are what Nigeria needs. Judicial independence and motivational leadership is also required to a much greater extent.”
He said that the responsibility of having a better Nigeria where all citizens exercise their rights fairly, regardless of gender, tribe or religion, is a shared responsibility of both the governing and the governed.
“Let us end this undemocratic culture,” Akeredolu concluded.
Report by Aneth Lwakatare a WCC communications department intern from Tanzania.
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