Nigeria’s Former Foreign Minister, Professor Bolaji
Akinyemi, has appealed to presidential aspirant of the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP), President Goodluck Jonathan and that of the All Progressives
congress (APC), General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd), to sign a Memorandum of
Undertaking (MoU) to commit themselves to a peaceful balloting in 2015.
This according to him is to prevent a recurrence of the orgy
of violence that attended the 2011 general elections.
Professor Bolaji Akinyemi made the appeal to the two
presidential candidates in an open letter on Saturday, December 20, 2014,
barely 44 days to the general elections, which will kick off on February 14,
2015.
THE
FULL TEXT OF THE LETTER IS REPRODUCED BELOW.
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, President,
Commander-in-Chief, The Villa, Abuja and General Mohammed Buhari, APC Party
Headquarters, Abuja Your Excellencies, Shortly after his appointment as
National Security Adviser, General Andrew Azazi, at his own request, met with
me in my office in Lagos to discuss the State of the Nation.
It was on the eve
of the 2011 elections. I told the General that I was not worried about the
conduct of the elections or about the outcome which I expected President
Jonathan to win.
What really worried me, I told the General, was the management
of the violence that would ensue after the elections.
I was sure that there
would be violence on a massive scale and I made some suggestions to him about how
I thought the violence could be contained. My suggestions were not acted upon.
The elections occurred, President Jonathan won and all hell broke loose.
Missing were the conflict-controlled measures which I had discussed with
General Azazi. Now we are back at the same crossroads again, except this time
is more precarious and dangerous than the last time.
Firstly, we have this very
notorious prediction from United States semi-official sources that the world is
expecting a cataclysmic meltdown of the Nigerian nation come 2015. Of course
most Nigerians have taken umbrage at this prediction for their country.
But
there are Nigerians who are indifferent to the outcome of this prediction. One
of my low moments during the just concluded 2014 National Conference was when
in an attempt to break an impasse, I painted a grim picture of devastation
which would follow a breakdown of the Nigerian state, to which a delegate
between 45 and 55 years old replied “so what?”
I thought to myself, here is a
man who would probably run away to a neighboring country at the boom of the
first gun but was callously indifferent to the fate of the youth, women and
children who would be caught in the middle. Secondly, the certainty of violence
after the 2015 elections is higher than it was in 2011.
If President Jonathan
wins, the North would erupt into violence as it did in 2011.
If General Buhari
wins, the Niger-Delta will erupt into violence. I don’t believe that we need
rocket science to make this prediction. The violence of 2015 is going to be
horrendous and worse than the one of 2011 for the simple reason that the
illegal massive importation of weapons into the country has reached such
alarming proportions that I really wonder which is better armed, the militias
on one hand or the official armed forces on the other hand.
For the avoidance
of doubt, I am not imputing the illegal importation of arms to any particular
zone. Some years ago, some Iranians were arrested for bringing in a shipload of
weapons into Lagos harbor. They were tried and jailed and then smuggled out of
the country.
Some months ago, sophisticated weapons were discovered buried in
the basement of a Kano house. All these have now fallen below the radar.
These
are the ones we know about. How many do we not know about? There are states and
movements out there, African and non-African, which do not mean well for the
Nigerian state, which wish Nigeria to dissolve into a theatre of bloodshed,
gore and instability.
They will succeed if we continue the politics of making
enemies of ourselves and friends of our enemies.
WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD:
The
first step forward is for the two Presidential Candidates to meet and sign a
Memorandum of Undertaking that will commit both to:
A civil and peaceful
campaign, devoid of threats.
A commitment to preach peaceful elections to their
supporters.
A commitment to control their supporters after the elections.
Supporters of whoever loses should be entitled to peaceful protests but not to
violent protests.
I also appeal to the following:
The Sultan, Alhaji Muhammad
Sa’ad Abubakar III
The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II
The Lamido of
Adamawa, Alhaji Muhammadu Barkindo Mustapha
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade
Sijuwade
The Oba of Benin, OmoN’oba Erediauwa
Chief Emeka Anyaoku
Pastor Ayo
Oritsejafor
Pastor Enoch Adeboye
His Excellency General Yakubu Gowon
His
Excellency General Abubakar Abdulsalaam to facilitate the pre-election meeting
between the candidates, the preparation of the Memorandum of Undertaking and as
a Council of Wisemen to assist in managing the post-election conflicts.
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