Ahead of next year’s general election in Nigeria, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission has advised the nation’s political actors and other stakeholders to adopt non-violent resolution of disputes.
The regional body made the appeal at the opening of a four-day training for key players in the forthcoming election on how to use dialogue and mediation to prevent and mitigate election-related violence.
The Nation reports that the workshop, being held across the six geopolitical zones of the country, brought together members of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), representatives of the National Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), the police, civil society organisations (NGOs), Women Situation Room (WSR), as well as the Institute for Chartered Mediators and Conciliators (ICMC).
Setting the tone for the workshop, ECOWAS’ Director of Political Affairs, Dr. Aderemi Ajibewa, said it was part of the body’s strategic support and intervention in the upcoming general election in Nigeria.
“These training and interactive workshops target the leadership of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) and other important stakeholders in the electoral process, including INEC and security agencies.
“The ECOWAS Commission has developed a Dialogue and Mediation Handbook, elements of which will be used to facilitate these planned training workshops, and with this, participants are expected to acquire practical techniques and skills for dialogue and mediation as important tools for the management of electoral conflicts through role-plays and simulation exercises.
“The specific goals for these engagements include creating the opportunity for participants to appreciate the ECOWAS normative principles and frameworks for transparent and peaceful elections; sustain and enhance ECOWAS’ strategic engagement with the political process in Nigeria; and, as an indication of our commitment and preference towards using dialogue and mediation in resolving electoral disputes and conflicts,” he said.
Ajibewa said the workshop would also provide a platform for IPAC members and stakeholders in the electoral process to brainstorm and collaboratively identify contending issues around the forthcoming elections, adding that they would also provide possible steps to arrest potential electoral violence before, during and after the polls.
Citing ECOWAS’ Early Warning and Response report and other data from open sources, Ajibewa said Nigeria ranked very high on political risk ratings with indication of possible violence in the polls.
Explaining that Lagos piloted the training that would run till January, Ajibewa said the next state they would visit would be Kano, to host
IPAC Chairman Yabagi Sani said Nigeria had not arrived at its political El Dorado because of violence, thuggery, bloodshed, and apprehension that usually accompany every election year.
He hailed ECOWAS for organising the training and interactive engagement with IPAC leaders from the Southwest.
“My keynote address will be incomplete and perhaps out of touch without the realities of the rising insecurity and the real threat it poses to the 2023 elections holding in Nigeria.
“Although President Muhammadu Buhari and the service chiefs have assured that the 2023 general election will hold in spite of security threats to the exercise in some parts of the country.
“Nigerians are reportedly worried about the spate of insecurity in the country. There are fears too that the election may not hold in some parts of the country where insecurity is yet to be curtailed.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has even confirmed the distressing security situation in its recent disclosure that 242 polling units with 142,261 registered voters in 10 local government areas in Katsina State were under serious security threat and may likely be affected in the forthcoming general election.
“Reports credited to concerned civil society groups, under the aegis of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Electoral Security (ICCES), indicated that INEC may be under constraint to not conduct the 2023 elections in over 686 communities due to the activities of ‘unknown gunmen’ across the federation.
“Findings by the group revealed that the affected communities and wards cut across 90 local government areas and 18 states of the country. Of the 686 affected communities, 618 were identified in the North alone while the South had 68.
“Not less than 336 affected communities were identified in the Northwest out of which 200 were in Zamfara State alone. In the Northeast, 168 communities were identified, with Borno State having about 79 wards where elections may not hold.
“About 114 wards, mainly located in Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger and Plateau states, are affected in the Northcentral.
“Similarly, 55 communities were identified as trouble spots in Abia, Anambra and Imo states. In the Southwest, the findings claimed that at least 10 communities were identified in Ondo State, especially in Owo and Ose local government areas and their environs.
“With the festering insecurity in some parts of the country, the security of INEC officials cannot be guaranteed. This might have informed the recent alarm raised by the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu,” he added.