FOR the first time in the history of the country, and also acutely contrasting with simple logic and commonsense, a second runner-up in the presidential election on February 25, 2023, is making the most laughable claim of having won the election. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, had won the election with no fewer than two million votes ahead of the Labour Party's Peter Obi, who came in third, and Abubakar Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, coming in second.
In a most convincing reconfirmation of the previous rating of three during the presidential election, Peter Obi's Labour Party, LP, won the governorship seat in only one state out of the 33 available for bid. But neither Obi, the presidential candidate of LP, nor his vice presidential candidate have demonstrated the universally known genuine spirit of sportsmanship.
In spite of the unmistakable statistical data, they have been insistent that they won, as against the official declaration of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. It's been messy to the extent that the narrative, especially online, of the opposition in the camp of the second runner in the presidential election, is extremely befuddling, having thrown all caution to the wind.
If this was never sufficiently envisaged, one organisation apparently did, projecting scientifically and taking advantage of intellectual efforts well cultivated and nurtured on elections. Dr. Babatunde Afolabi, Africa Regional Director of the Geneva headquartered Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, HD, oozed so much excitement in 2019 over a book project he had overseen as the Nigeria Director of his organisation. The book is titled Post-Election Assessment of Conflict Management Mechanisms in Nigeria, 2019 and Beyond.
Such was the excitement that even before the production was concluded, he had scheduled the public launch session that was to feature two reviewers, namely, Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim, a renowned fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, and yours truly. Incidentally, COVID-19 happened and ensured a global shutdown for the better part of 2020. Though painful, the book launch from which so much was expected had to be postponed indefinitely. But HD kept having the feeling that the launch still had to happen, and so it finally did on December 1, 2022.
The launch attracted the best of the sober stakeholders in the mould of high ranking and veteran diplomats, high profile civil society players, and academics who featured, among others, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General/Head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel; the immediate past INEC Chair, Prof. Attahiru Jega; the former Special Representative of the ECOWAS in Liberia, Ambassador Tunde Ajisomo; former Nigerian Ambassador to France and former AU Special Rep in Liberia, Ambassador Akin Fayo.
Beyond the impactful speeches at the launch are the more enduring recommendations of the publication. What are these? They include: Formal and informal conflict management structures and initiatives should work more closely in preparation for election processes· Traditional and religious leaders should be mindful of the implications of publicly showing sympathy or support for any political party or candidate. Development partners, donor organisations, and other stakeholders should support the sustained training of journalists and social media influencers on conflict-sensitive reporting. The signing of the peace accords should be promoted at all levels of government, including the federal level, with enough resources and incentives to ensure that all stakeholders comply with their provisions.
The inadequacy of attention and resources allocated to the last two suggestions listed above have been haunting Nigeria since February 25. The conduct of the media, especially the so-called Fifth Estate, has been unimaginably irritating. Outright misinformation and disinformation compete incessantly, compelling those concerned to do rebuttals to the discomfort of the world. Incidentally, as unmistakable as the manifestations are, even core stakeholders appear dismissive.
Otherwise, how do we explain the insensitivity to diversity manifest in the composition of the recently inaugurated National Media Commission with the inclusion of the spokesperson of only one of the presidential candidates, Prof. Stella Okunna? How can the promoters of the commission convince the world against bias with the religious insensitivity burden of the only two Muslims included in the 10-member body, who are neither media scholars nor professionals? The commission has since been inaugurated and is expected to command our respect. How?
The centrality of the media to multi-track diplomacy is such that it cannot be overemphasised, with the other tracks feeding it and even feeding on it to enable proper functioning in the mitigation of conflicts. The media connect with the people as collectives and individuals and, therefore, bear a lot of responsibility for helping to stabilise social imbalance. This is the very basis of the rigorous transformation effected by media and conflict resolution experts and scholars, as manifest in the trajectory of, at first, peace journalism and, much later, conflict-sensitive journalism.
Such is the reckoning that conflict-sensitive reporting enjoys that UNESCO has had to invest heavily in it, with trainers and researchers being relentless globally to entrench the principles. But what has our own newly inaugurated commission to do with all the global efforts? The world waits! Compounding the situation further is the disregard for HD's submission on the Peace Accord. Since its inception, it has always been a one-off, pre-election routine. But post-election engagement, as scientifically foreseen by HD, has turned out to be hugely important. This is to the extent that if care is not taken, whatever is envisaged as the dividends of democracy may get recklessly frittered away.
The Peace Accord, as envisioned by HD with the wish for robust funding, should be all-encompassing to accommodate the remaining seven tracks of diplomacy as conceptualised in 1991. And Nigeria is well endowed enough to drive the integration of the remaining seven tracks to work for the desired peace for our dear country. For instance, not a few Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies programme in different universities in Africa and even beyond have had to rely on the University of Ibadan professors for take-off and sustenance.
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Such is also the respect that the world has for the relevant experts from Nigeria that there is hardly any one of the global associations that does not have a Nigerian on its leadership team.
Interestingly, Dr. Afolabi, who conceptualised the book mentioned in this article, is the current Africa Director of HD, whereas he was Nigeria Director of HD when the idea of the book took root. Perhaps more important are the renowned efforts of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in recent times in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa.
It is absolutely indispensable to ensure adequate sensitivity to diversity in the workings of democratic processes, say at the level of political parties as well as at the level of formulating solutionist agendas such as those that may involve constituting membership for an all-important organ like the National Media Commission whose relevance transcends elections and related complications.
Akanni, PhD, a media and conflict expert is an associate professor of journalism at the Lagos State University, Nigeria.
