Tuesday March 31, 2015, at about 1 am, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room was looking less like a technical election-monitoring space and more like a mad house.
Papers were strewn all over the place, the walls were covered with flip charts and the pounding of laptops and phone keypads provided a rather disorienting background music. Colleagues working in the technical room, charged with the information collation, were passed out on their chairs. They had been on their feet for close to four days. For the analysts in the Situation Room -the group that decides on election interventions and electoral statements - there was no time to sleep. An emergency was brewing. Information coming into the Situation Room suggested an attempt by politicians to undermine the results collation process. Less than 24 hours after polls had closed, Nigeria was staring catastrophe in the face.
Like in most of Africa, election collation is the weakest link in the electoral process in Nigeria. Since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democracy, politicians have persistently manipulated vote tabulation to win their elections. At times these attempts were futile, but it always impacts on the integrity of the elections. In 2011, due to suspicions that the collation process was tampered with, more than 800 Nigerians were killed in post-election violence. With this sad experience in mind, no one wanted to risk another discredited ballot that could plunge Nigeria and the rest of West Africa into serious instability.
From the beginning of the 2015 electoral process about 12 months ago, the signs had been ominous. The election closely contested between the ruling party Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Congress (APC) polarized the country along religious and ethnic lines in a manner that suggested violence was inevitable. The electoral narrative was toxic, divisive and militant. Politicians bandied parochial sentiments and intimidation as means of gaining support. Each of the political parties gave the impression that the only result they would accept was victory. Billions of dollars were sunk into the election by both parties. The elections were also happening at a time of serious economic crisis in Nigeria - a result of years of mismanagement, dwindling oil revenue and the devaluation of the Nigerian currency by almost 40 percent. Nigerians were restive. Unemployment has been hovering close to 40 percent with a growing level of poverty. This coupled with an escalating insurgency in the North East, which has undermined Nigeria's territorial integrity, was further creating a tense and dire electoral environment.
On a rather positive, yet perhaps equally dangerous note, for the first time since the return to democracy, there was a possibility that the ruling party which had been in power for 16 years could actually lose the election. Such a loss could signify a fundamental change in the political and governance landscape of Nigeria. It will imply a major rebalancing of power. All of the above combined to make the election the most significant election in Nigeria.
Alleviating the potential for election-related dangers in the lead-up to the elections required strong collaboration and engagement between civil society (CSOs), the international community and other progressive interests. OSF in Nigeria working with the Department of International Development DfID supported the setting up of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room), a coordinated platform of key electoral stakeholders that would help ensure the transparency and credibility of the electoral process. OSF through support to its grantees helped build a constituency of energized youths through a nationwide music concert and engaged directly with the election management body to provide strategic support to its preparation. This was in addition to its collaboration with other stakeholders to intensify nationwide voter education that targeted the middle class, urban areas and grassroots with tailored messages that addresses their peculiar interests. One of the key aspects, and ultimately successfully-contributing factors to the strong election engagement was the ability of developmental partners to collaborate and jointly identify priority areas like voter education and peace messaging.
The Situation Room provided a national collaborative platform for CSOs, which facilitated the ability to amplify concerns and work with a broad network of partners. The international community provided strategic financial and technical support. Working closely with CSOs, it understood clearly the pressure points and was sending out the right kind of message - messages of peace. These efforts highlighted by the Peace Accord signed by political parties committing to credible and peaceful elections went a long way to mitigate violence. The National Human Rights Commission, chaired by Prof Chidi Odinkalu, worked in collaboration with CSOs to monitor and intervene in real time when hate speech was out of control. The message from the International Criminal Court to Nigerians on its readiness to ensure accountability for mass violence was one that also resonated within Nigeria.
However, in the early hours of March 31st, it dawned on us in the Situation Room that if something drastic was not done, all the efforts outlined above would amount to naught. With less than one hour deliberation, the Situation Room issued one of its strongest statements to date- a statement that came to define the Situation Room's intervention in the 2015 Presidential Election. While condemning the politicians for their insensitivity to the will of the people, it reminded the nation that the manipulation of the result may destabilize Nigeria. This statement was followed up with aggressive outreach to opinion leaders. The Situation Room was calling on every contact and influential individuals - both locally and internationally - to put pressure on the two political parties to allow the collation process to go unhindered. The UK Foreign Secretary and the US Secretary of State picked up the message and issued a terse joint statement by dawn, calling on the politicians to respect the Peace Accord and support the integrity of the collation of election result process. These calls to a large extent pressured stakeholders to respect the integrity of the collation process and reflect the strategic nature of civil society intervention and engagement with the electoral process in 2015.
Finally when the results did come in, it was a ballot revolution. For the first time in Nigeria's history, a ruling party lost elections at the federal level. After 16 years of leadership - a reign mostly characterized by impunity, corruption, insensitivity and insecurity - Nigerians were finally able to voice their dissatisfaction through the ballot. The ruling party had exerted a firm and unhealthy grip over every institution of government and had deployed and undermined those institution to further the party's interest. In spite of the remarkable economic growth of more than 6 percent that Nigeria had enjoyed in the last few years, there was a general understanding that the country was heading in the wrong direction. The culture of corruption and impunity made it difficult to appreciate any progress the country was making. The results of the election therefore changed the power base, redefined governance and reinforced the primacy of citizens' voice. Nigeria has now been presented an opportunity to reshape governance and redirect itself. It was not so much a vote for APC, as it was a condemnation of the ruling party and the impunity that characterized their leadership.
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The result of the election triggered mixed emotions in the Situation Room. Even among those who voted for the ruling party, the significance of the moment was not lost. Nobody imagined the possibility of what was unfolding in Nigeria. For a country whose politics has been characterized by predictability and near invincibility of the ruling party, the election result was a validation of the primacy of the peoples' will. For a continent that has been characterized by sit tight despots with disregard to polling verdict, this was a refreshing example of a maturing democracy. All the odds seemed to be against this election, but it turned out to be an election that redeemed Nigeria from its contradictions. Emotions were high because nobody imagined the possibility of what happened in Nigeria. We did not even give ourselves a chance of coming through this in one piece as a country. What became obvious was that our country will never be the same again. Something just gave. For us at the Situation Room, it was deeply personal. We were standing with our generation in doing what was before now considered the impossible. We do know however that this is one of the many hurdles to cross. Making this change a positive one is an even greater task.
Follow Jude on Twitter @udoilo
