By Lillian Okenwa
Although the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, announced that the conduct of the 25 February Presidential and National Assembly poll was “free and fair” but not “perfect,” with the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, asserting that President Muhammadu Buhari, has delivered on his pledge to leave behind a legacy of free, fair and credible elections through the conduct of 2023 polls, international observer groups condemned what they described as widespread irregularities, manipulations of results and lack of transparency by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which according to them created confusion and eroded voters’ trust in the process.
Also, Civil society organisations (CSOs) criticised the suppression, intimidation, violence, and ethnic profiling of voters during the 18 March gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections across the country, particularly in Lagos where ethnic slurs and divisive remarks were the order of the day.
In the run-up to the Lagos guber poll, chairman of the Lagos State Parks Management Committee, Musiliu “MC Oluomo” Akinsanya, threatened Igbos who would not vote for APC to stay away from voting. In a crude enforcement of MC Oluomo’s threat, thugs ran riot across the street of Lagos, barring and assaulting any voter who cannot confirm their loyalty to APC.
And notwithstanding that the Government of the United Kingdom along with others condemned the ethnic profiling and disenfranchisement of Igbos in Lagos during the governorship election of March 18, Nigeria’s Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, said people must learn to accept the new reality of divisive politics. arguing that identity politics is now a global trend.
Speaking on a Sunday night TV show, Fashola, said: “There is identity politics all over the world. So people vote and are impacted in making choices by so many items of stimulus. It may be my identity, it may be my faith… So many things influence the voter. So you can’t wish those things away… One incident of violence in election in my country does not cover us in glory… they are too insignificant compared to what we have seen in elections in the past.”
However, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Osinbajo, SAN has cautioned that Nigeria’s leadership elites, in their contest for power, must not toy with prejudices that alienate or divide any section of the country.
Osinbajo in a paper he delivered at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Kuru, on 17th April 2023 titled ‘Leaders don’t have the luxury of toying with prejudice in a contest for power, it’s a threat to our democracy, Osinbajo warns,’ made some key points.
- “These elections witnessed the exploitation by political actors of the fears and anxieties of people about so-called outsiders. Any attempts to deny people the right to vote in any locality on the basis that they do not belong in that place is condemnable in the strongest possible terms”
- “When ethnic or religious prejudices are weaponised for political purposes, we are confronted with a lethal potentially destructive situation”
- “The most prosperous places are countries that have learned to harness diversity while building ever more inclusive institutions “
- “Discrimination against people on the basis of their identity is explicitly condemned by most legal codes, including our own Constitution”
- “But there is still a tension that exists between this new Nigeria and the old Nigeria as understood by a generation that is much more accustomed to political mobilization on the basis of identity.”
- “But we must ennoble and validate the Nigeria that our young people are consciously or unconsciously building. This is the future we want”
- “Let us never forget that although we may speak different languages, belong to different tribes and profess diverse creeds; we are bound, above all else, by the language of a shared hope, by our common humanity as Nigerians, and a supreme faith in the possibility of our country”
- “If we are truly committed to economic growth, then we must also be committed to creating inclusive communities and strengthening social cohesion. Put another way, the only thing that grows in a climate of tribal hatred is poverty. This is why justice, healing, and a stronger commitment to the ideals of integration are so important.”
- “Where the forces of primordial division and polarization are harnessed for the sake of electoral gain, the venom of such devices remains and continues to poison communal relations, setting neighbour against neighbour. We have witnessed the catastrophic consequences of the political weaponization of prejudice in places such as Rwanda”
