President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday in Abuja said that post-election violence could be avoided if politicians and their supporters were patriotic enough to do the right things.
He said this at the 2015 Elections Sensitisation Workshop, organised for all political parties.
The workshop was organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser to the President, in collaboration with the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Inter-Party Affairs.
“The emphasis here is electoral violence not electoral malpractices. With electoral malpractices, the courts can help to some extent, but there is nothing the courts can do about electoral violence.
“If a property is burnt, it is burnt. If you identify the person, he can go in for arson charges. It is often difficult convicting people,” the President said.
He traced the history of electoral violence in the country to the first republic in the South West, which saw to its collapse.
He added that the second republic also did not last because of rancour among political gladiators. “Once politicians start abusing themselves; insulting every institution, it is just like what late Tai Solarin referred to as the beginning of the end,” the president said.
He added that the 2011 general elections, attested by both foreign and local election observers as credible, free and fair, also had its share of violence in parts of the country, especially the North.
President Jonathan, however, said that electoral violence was not necessarily caused by election malpractice, adding that some other factors fueled it.
“In Kano and Bauchi, properties and houses were burnt down and in Bauchi, 10 young innocent youth corps members were slaughtered. The only thing one can deduce, because we cannot say there were malpractices to favour the candidate that won, because in Kano, I only got 16 per cent and in Bauchi, 15 per cent of the total votes cast.
“Even in states where we got more than 50 per cent, there were no violence. So, violence were not necessarily caused by electoral malpractices,” he said.
According to him, factors which cause electoral violence include provocative statements of politicians and the factors of religious leaders.
He said that some religious leaders preached hatred and instigate their followers to be confrontational and sometimes label some people or candidates as enemies of their faith.
“We always tend to follow what they say, so their enemies must be fought,” he stressed.
The president said another factor was the pronouncement of ethnic or tribal leaders, some of which were quite provocative and very inflammatory.
He, therefore, said that there was need for all political stakeholders to put hands on deck to address the situation and ensure that electoral violence if not stopped, was basically reduced in the country.
President Jonathan added that politicians must accept that the struggle to rule was not struggle to conquer.
“Whenever you win election, you will rule the whole country and not only your political party members. At the end of elections, everybody must be your friend and followers,” he said.
He further said that there was need to rejig the country`s law with regards to the presidential system, to ensure that it did not encourage electoral violence.
He added that there was also a need for the executive to come up with a system that would ensure an all-inclusive government after every election.
This, he said, should ensure that parties that did well, also by right and not by privilege or discretion of the governor or president, share government appointments.
The president also said that there was need to evolve a policy where persons considered as political nuisance with criminal records were not allowed to contest elective offices.
“We must find a way of filtering those people out,” President Jonathan said.
He re-empahsised that the Federal Government would do everything possible to ensure that the forthcoming general elections was credible, free and fair and seen to be so.
“It is good for all of us who are contesting to see that the elections are free and fair if we are to be comfortable in office,” he said.
He, however, said that some of INEC`s guidelines gave room for confusion.
“In the Ekiti election, the electoral law provides for red ink to tick on the paper. On the day of the election probably the ink was not provided, so that substantially affected the result of the election.
These little things must be avoided because people will believe that something wrong has happened,” he said.
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