Address Bythe Executive Director, WANEP, Mr Emmanuel Bombandeat the Stakeholder S Consultative

Address bythe Executive Director, WANEP, Mr Emmanuel Bombandeat the Stakeholder’s Consultative Meeting on Peaceful Elections in Nigeria

The Chair of the Electoral Commission of Nigeria and our Chief Host/Guest of Honour, Professor Attahiru Jega, The Chair of Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone and Board Member of WANEP, Dr. Christiana Thorpe, The Keynote Speaker and Member of WANEP Board, Professor Isaac Olawole Albert, The Vice Board Chair of WANEP, Dr. Lydia Umar, representatives of political parties, representatives of the security agencies including the Ghana Police Service, our very erudite resource persons cutting across the various segments of Nigeria, members of the diplomatic corps, WANEP partners and friends, traditional and religious leaders,men and women of the media, very distinguished ladies and gentlemen.

First of all, I would like to express my pleasure in welcoming all participants to thisvery important and timely stakeholder’s consultative Meeting and for honouring our invitation despite yourvery tight schedules. We are particularly delighted at the response of the political parties given that this is undeniably your “season” and like famers, if politicians don’t work now, harvest would elude them.

It is therefore a great privilege to convenethis very important meeting leading to the electioneering processes in Nigeria and which will serve as a platform for identifying the challenges of the election with a view to working collaboratively towards addressing them.

As Nigeria goes to the polls early next year beginning on a very significant day of Valentine, for the general and presidential elections, the strategic importance of this meeting cannot be overemphasized.

Reports from the WANEP Nigeria National Early Warning System (NEWS) has in the recent past continued to flag the 2015 elections as a potentially decisive moment that could either consolidate or undermine thefragile peace and the strides Nigeriahas made in its democratic principles and ideals amidst challenges of insecurity in the North East, the oil bunkeringand sabotage in the South, the kidnappings in the East, the ethnic militias in the West among others. The report clearly indicated that if the elections are managed properly, it will help steer the country into rapid development and growth as envisioned in the country’s vision 2020 and better position her amongst the MINT (Mexico, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Taiwan) nations. On the other hand, werethe elections to be rocked by serious disputes and major violence, the risk of political instability would be significantly increased and the insecurity in the various parts of the country phenomenally higher.

According to the United States Institute for Peace (USIP), violence is encountered in almost all elections in sub-Sahara Africa. In most of these cases, violence recurs because of unresolved systemic issues with the youths at the center as both perpetrators and victims. These issues have been at the core of the proliferation of intra-state conflicts since the end of the cold war in the late 1980s. From Nigeria to Zimbabwe, Kenya to Liberia, Togo to Uganda, Gambia to Guinea, Sierra Leone to Guinea Bissau and more recently, Cote D’Ivoire and Mali, the stories are not different. There is no better placed country to appreciate the effect of conflicts and crises than Nigeria, given the roles the country continue to play in the peace and security architecture of ECOWAS and African Union and the enormous human and material loss it encountered in the senseless civil wars of Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Excellences, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, Mathematical economist Kenneth Arrow (from Stanford University) proved (in 1951) that there is no consistent method of making a choice among two or more candidates that satisfies simple criteria of “fairness”. If this is applied to an electoral process, one may begin to appreciate why disputes in elections are inevitable. Professor Isaac Albert of the University of Ibadan here in Nigeria even argues that non-violent election disputes are normal and actually strengthen democracy. It is therefore imperative that mechanisms are put in place for responding to electoral disputes that may arise during any stage of the electoral process in order to avert the disputes from degenerating into violence.

As the implementing partner of ECOWAS in the operationalization of the ECOWAS Early Warning Mechanism (ECOWARN) and the lead organization for peace and security in the AU ECOSSOC and the JAES process, WANEP has been monitoring and analyzing elections and electoral processes in West Africa for the past decade. Throughout this period, WANEP has worked closely with various stakeholders to support free and fair elections.

In the electoral processes of South Africa, Ghana, Togo, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire and recently Senegal, WANEP worked assiduously with various stakeholders including ECOWAS, AU and the UN using different dispute resolution mechanisms to ensure a reduction in electoral disputes. Through this experience, WANEP has come to realize that electoral dispute mechanisms are sine qua non in the struggle to promote free, fair and transparent elections in our region.

To be considered democratic, a country must choose its leaders through fair and competitive elections, ensure basic liberties, and respect for the rule of law. Democratic elections are promising because the principles, institutions, and rules associated with this practice seek to give power to the people; it also provides predictable procedures in which collective decisions can be taken. For this reason, many deeply divided societies such as ours in the 1990s have turned to democracy as a way to exit intractable conflict. However, democratic transitions may be challenged at the onset in that they rearrange political competition, alter structures and power relations. This notwithstanding, elections and other democratic principles when nurtured over the medium term brings stability and pro-poor development to its people leading to sustainable peace.

In nascent democracies such as ours, there is need to have in place these kinds of strategic meetings that ensure planning and collective responsibility which could play a decisive role in ensuring political stability.

Nigeria is the predominant power in West Africa and regarded as one of the African Union’s “BIG FIVE”. It is therefore imperative that we end this meeting with an unwavering conviction that we will all work together to ensure that Nigeria gets its election right and provide the leadership itMUST provide to guarantee the stability of the region. As we say, “when Nigeria catches cold, the region sneezes.” The options left for Nigeriaand hercitizens especially those of us here who hold the fort for our communities are very few but definitely, not to just, pray and watch and in some instances say “God forbid”! This is the time to think together and work hand in glove and ensure that the peace and democratic dividends we have secured thus far cannot slide.

Let me therefore end by congratulating you and theIndependent Electoral Commission for the giant strides you have made in your electoral process especially under the current Chair and urge you to demonstrate your patriotism in this election and prove to the world that indeed you are the true “giantof Africa!”

Thank you