By Adam Alqali
As part of their contributions towards ensuring a violence-free 2015 General Elections, the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development (SCDDD), founded by the eminent Nigerian diplomat Prof Ibrahim Gambari, in collaboration with Washington DC-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) hosted a 2-day conference on the roles of state and non-state actors in mitigating election violence.
The conference held between January 15 and 16 in Abuja witnessed deliberations on issues as diverse as the roles of political actors, media, civil society as well as security agencies in mitigating violence, as far as the 2015 elections were concerned. Speaking at the event, Mr Suleiman Abba, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) assured Nigerians that the police will protect the ‘integrity’ of the 2015 elections and warned political parties against electoral violence which if committed; he said “the law will take its course”.
“Whatever the Nigeria Police Force will do in the forthcoming 2015 elections will be nothing other than protecting the integrity of the election. If any of the political parties or their members is found guilty of committing electoral offence, the law will take its course. The police are continuously doing a threat analysis so that even if we are unable to prevent the outbreak of violence we will be able to manage it. And I assure you, we will not use any lethal weapons in responding to such violence,” said the IGP.
Also speaking, the founder of the Savannah Centre, Prof Ibrahim Gambari urged Nigerians to see credible elections as ‘shared responsibility’ which shouldn’t be left in the hands of the election management body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). “Free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria,” he said “should be a shared responsibility; it cannot be left in the hands of any particular agency. We want politicians to change the mindset of their followers – that election is not a ‘do-or-die’ affair. Elections must hold everywhere and all eligible voters must be allowed to vote.”
Prof Gambari decried the fact that Nigeria had never been so divided along its ethno-religious and regional fault lines like it was on the eve of the 2015 General Elections, which he said made the elections “even more dangerous”. “Security agencies have to be impartial; impartiality is absolutely required,” he stressed.
The conference’s panelists included leaders of the leading political parties in Nigeria (the People’s Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress) the chair of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), leading civil society activists; media executives as well as heads of security agencies including the Nigeria Civil Defence and Security Corps (NSCDC); Department of Security Services (DSS).
