Prominent citizens at an event organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), in collaboration with The Kukah Centre and National Peace Committee, have underscored the
imperative of issue-based campaigns ahead of next year’s general election. SANNI ONOGU reports
The signing into law of the Electoral Act (Amendment), Bill, 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari sent a positive signal to Nigerians and the world that the country was set to ascend new heights in its democratic journey. Some of the novel provisions of the act, especially the one dealing with the electronic transmission of results have been hailed as a harbinger for free, fair, credible and transparent polls.
However, the utterances of politicians ahead of next year’s election are not helping matters. So far, they have been beating war drums and fanning embers of division in their campaigns, which have been characterised by hate speech, and character assassination with a high dose of ethnic, religious and sectional bias.
It was in a bid to reverse this tendency that the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in collaboration with the Kukah Centre and the National Peace Committee organised a forum recently in Abuja to shape political communication ahead of the election. The forum was an assemblage of political experts, politicians, policymakers and media practitioners.
The Director-General of NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman said technological advancements and the proliferation of electronic media platforms have revolutionised political communication and exposed the nation’s democracy to dangerous new threats. He said new internet technologies challenge established institutions and principles of regulation of election communications and that they undermine the ability of existing regulations to maintain a level playing field.
The former Minister of National Planning said the way the electioneering campaign has been conducted so far can undermine democracy, because they induce cynicism among the populace, undermine trust in government, decrease turnout and frustrate genuine attempts to engage the citizenry. He said: “Critics have raised significant concerns about recent developments in political communication, particularly because negative and personality-based campaigns are increasingly replacing informative, policy-focused campaigns because they can undermine democracy.
He added: “The lack of ‘substance’ in political debates means that voters are often confused and unable to make well-informed decisions. Some studies have shown that negative political communication and campaigns push people to stay away from politics altogether. Experts have noted that communication by actors so far has been reactive and not based on a clear enunciation of party manifestoes, candidates’ programmes and strategies for actualising such programmes.”
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila said the quality of the political conversations in society, particularly before elections, determine their outcomes and the quality of governance that will result therefrom. He added: “When political communication is focused on identifying and exploiting divisions, governance will follow suit. In the same vein, when political discourse seeks to unite the people behind an agenda of shared prosperity, social development, and respect for the humanity of persons, governance will also reflect these priorities.”
Gbajabiamila added that the Electoral Act 2022 included provisions designed to prevent language and communication that dehumanises others, as well as discourage strategies and tactics that exploit the fault lines of religion and tribe in Nigeria. His words: “Section 92 of the act states, ’a political campaign or slogan shall not be tainted with abusive language directly or indirectly likely to injure religious, ethnic, tribal, or sectional feelings’.
“Sub-section 2 further prohibits the use of ‘intemperate, slanderous, or base language, insinuations, or innuendoes designed or likely to provoke violent reactions or emotions’. These, and other provisions, including those prohibiting the use of places of religious worship, police stations and public offices for campaigns, are deliberate insertions by the National Assembly, drawing on the lessons of our democratic history going as far back as the First Republic. Many of these provisions have already been breached by candidates, and this needs to stop.”
The speaker said Nigeria is a rainbow nation in the truest sense – a diverse nation of intertwined histories, languages, religions, and cultures. He added: “Unfortunately, the promise of Nigeria as a prosperous nation at peace with itself has too often in our past been hindered by the vile exploitation of our differences by those who draw power and influence from exaggerating our differences until we become grotesque caricatures of humanity in each other’s eyes.”
He said those who practice this kind of politics, do so because it works. Against this background, he said the National Assembly is working very hard to pass the law that would establish the Electoral Offences Commission. He said: We will see that those who seek to endanger our hard-worn democracy by violating our nation’s electoral laws receive the full measure of justice.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan said the bringing together of the key players in the various political parties at the session was intended to discuss the critical issue of campaign framing and stemming the tide of negative campaigning. He said: “We believe that better communication and negotiation can create harmony and more desirable outcomes in politics.”
Lawan said the emergence of presidential candidates for the various political parties and the appointment of media spokespersons have thrown up the question of how political messages should be crafted and delivered and the consequence of messaging for the broader polity. He said since independence, elections had been characterised by polarising rhetoric and deep-seated divisions relating to ethnicity, religion and other primordial sentiments.
The Senate president said recent developments suggest that the legacy of such divisive tendencies is still very much around. For instance, he said a 2021 study on ‘Violent Social Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Nigeria’ by the renowned think-tank, Afrobarometer, made some startling revelations. He said “As the findings show, 51 per cent of respondents said that they define their own identities mainly on ethnic and religious lines. Furthermore, they identified some of the most prominent sources of social conflict, which included religion, ethnic rivalries and the struggle for economic resources.
“Perhaps, more impressive is the fact that violent conflicts have not undermined popular support for democracy, and most Nigerians abhor violence and instead seek peaceful coexistence with their countrymen and women. More so, the bulk of our people (71 per cent) express support for a united Nigeria. This finding was further confirmed by a follow-up study on the agitation for restructuring by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies in 2018, which shows that majority of Nigerians have strong sentiments of national solidarity and are committed to the integrity of the democratic and political processes.”
Critical academic literature, Lawan added, has consistently blamed politicians for exploiting existing fault lines for purely political and opportunistic reasons. He said: “Rather than unite us, politics has become a tool for promoting our differences and further endangering national unity.”
Lawan said for the first time since 1999, campaigns have moved from substantive issues to inconsequential and sometimes vile vituperations, as politicians have shifted their focus from the core issues of governance to irrelevant and nonsensical attacks on the personalities of the various candidates. He added: “By so doing, we, the politicians, have once again distracted Nigerians from assessing those who seek political office based on the merit of their positions. Inadvertently, we are also exploiting primordial sentiments for political purposes, not minding the danger this poses to our democratic journey.”
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The Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Rev. Father Matthew Hassan Kukah lamented that “identity politics” in the country had been mismanaged. Kukah said: “I have always tried to explain to people that it is not that politicians are bad. This is not the issue. It is as people who have won elections will tell you, maybe while we were outside what we thought the issues were, now that we have entered the house, we discovered that they were totally different.”
Kukah advised politicians to develop the skills to manage the country’s diversity in such a way that the people do not feel left out. He added: “Because no matter what the effort that is put in place if the people do not see it, it would end as a futile effort. I want to commend the National Assembly for the action it has taken and the speed with which the Electoral Act 2022 was passed. But that’s just the beginning; there’s still a challenge to convince Nigerians that they are voting and electing and choosing their leaders. There is a crippling feeling that Nigerians feel that they are voting but they are not choosing.
“Upon all the changes in the electoral law, Nigerians are still not sure whether there are no landmines planted. What I am saying is that Nigerians do not need a messiah as their next president. Please go back and play a song played by Tina Turner in 1985. The title of the song is: ‘We don’t need another hero.’ Let me just quote part of the lyrics for you. it says: ‘Out of the ruins, out of the wreckage, we cannot make the same mistake this time. We are the children, the last generation. We are the ones that they left behind.’ The next election is about ensuring that every Nigerian finds a seat in the tent.’”
Former INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega agreed with Kukah’s submission. He said one major gain of the Fourth Republic is that the country has enjoyed 23 years of unbroken civil rule so far, despite the high scale of misgovernance. Jega added: “First of all, I would like to say that I agree with Bishop Kukah when he said that the major challenge in Nigeria perhaps has to do with the management of diversity, in the context in which identities have become sharp and more weaponised.
“It is very challenging under the circumstances particularly given the combination of the damning experience of Nigerians and the undermining of their needs and aspirations through the governance processes. In the past 23 years of the Fourth Republic, one major achievement is that we have avoided a democratic reversal. So, every four years, we had a cycle of elections and we get people elected but when you look at the substance of governance, it has increasingly been on a trajectory of bad governance. Virtually all indices of socioeconomic development point to that. Key among these needs of people is human dignity which is associated with meeting the basic needs of the people.
“Clearly, the way our politicians plan and undertake their campaign and the way they govern when they get into power is leading this country away from the need to satisfy the aspirations of the people. On the specific matter of campaigns and strategic communications, in relation to elections, it is very clear again as we move from one electoral cycle to another, you see that politicians are not interested at all in strategic communications or in terms of effectively persuading citizens about their competence, capacity, experience, and the issues they want to address once they get elected into office.”