As the #SaveSouthernIjaw Campaign enters Day 5 on Friday for the supplementary election in Southern Ijaw Local Government on Saturday, the national convener, Mr Femi Lawson has re-emphasised the need for Nigerians, especially politicians, to protect the nation’s democracy with free, fair and credible elections anchored on fairness and justice.
Lawson noted that nations had fought wars just to protect their rights to vote and their votes to count, adding that the hallmark of civil liberties is democratic governance.
He observed that the absence of constructive and collective measure to uphold the thrust of democracy could arguably be termed as extreme or illegitimate, saying, “The very essence of democracy is civil liberties and majority rule in their comprehensive ramifications.”
“The denial or suppression of one legitimate right, or the crux of democratic governance, which is the very will of the people especially in the face of unrestrained compromises of institutional safeguards, is enough impetus to use every conceivable effort to correct the anomaly by upholding the ethos of democracy, accentuating the critical pathos for social re-engineering and instigating the sustenance of the defining logos by which social equilibrium is framed and dependent.
“Silence about the contempt of cherished values is consent that endorses the ultimate penalty; and it shall be psychotic for the mass of the afflicted not to collectively forbid such within the body politic of any retrogressive society.
On December 5, 2015, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted the Governorship election in Bayelsa State,
Nigeria. The events of that day particularly in the Southern Ijaw Local government area of the state, showed the desperation of some persons to violate democratic tenets and ultimately, the rights and dignity of the people of the Local government, particularly the women and young people. People were killed, injured and eventually prevented from casting the ballot during the election, thereby prompting INEC to announce a rescheduled date of January 9, 2016, for the governorship election, in the Southern Ijaw local government area of the state.
“As stakeholders in the electoral process and ultimately, Pro-Democracy campaigners, the National Frontiers, on Monday, January 4, 2016, began sit-out advocacy to demand the de-militarisation of the electoral process in Southern Ijaw and the protection of the rights of the people of Southern Ijaw, particularly the women and young people against further harassment by security agents and their civilian collaborators.
“Today being the 5th day of the Sit-Out advocacy, which has held at the Abuja Unity Fountain since it began, our group wishes to restate our opposition to the use of the military in carrying out the basic security during elections in Bayelsa State tomorrow and that they should rather serve as back up to the police and other para-military organs who are statutorily empowered to manage security during elections,” Mr Lawson said.
The #SaveSouthernIjaw Campaign also called for the immediate prosecution of everyone arrested for electoral violence during the last governorship election in Bayelsa State and other elections across the country, with a view to strengthening the nation’s electoral process.
“The government must criminalize rigging and electoral violence as a way of safeguarding our democracy. The will of the people must be allowed to prevail and INEC must resist every external pressure seeking to use the commission to manipulate the outcome of the elections in Southern Ijaw local government area and future elections in Nigeria. We restate that election is not war and not a do-or-die affair,” #SaveSouthernIjaw Campaign stated.
-Leadership
