The imperative of peace for a successful democracy

By Dr Moses George
Lately, Nigeria’s peace has been woefully threatened by various factors including ethnicity and religion. With its huge population, diversity and massive human and material endowments, Nigeria cannot afford not to have peace if it must attain its potentials and national development objectives.

Since Nigeria’s transition from military rule to democracy, the country has continued to experience one form of crisis or the other. This has not only largely inhibited its economic growth, but has also thrown the country into unprecedented dilemma.

With the 2023 elections fast approaching, political gladiators and their teeming supporters must be reminded that elections are not a do or die phenomena, and should not be so. Politicians must conduct themselves decently; give peace a chance, avoid violence and respect the rule of law. This call has become imperative in view of what some politicians who signed a Peace Accord in September 2022 are doing along with their surrogates. Apparently, some of the gladiators have repudiated the same accord by their recent activities and inflammatory utterances.

The growing spate of violence must stop in the spirit of the peace accord that was signed in September by leaders of political parties. Peace loving stakeholders must continue to advocate that all citizens must do all it takes to promote peace and unity of the country before, during and after the forthcoming elections. Nobody deserves to die for participating in the democratic process. Government must ensure that the rule of law prevails. This is very important as no society can make meaningful progress without peace which cannot be attained in the absence of respect for the rule of law.

As Nigeria prepares for the 2023 elections, the big threat to peace is beyond ethnicity and religion. It is the desperation of politicians their proxies to win elections at all cost. Therefore, security agents must be on the high alert. They must not only stay away from partisan politics, but should closely keep tabs on thugs and their sponsors with the goal of bringing them to book.

This democratic journey must not be marred by violence. As stakeholders, all Nigerians must ensure peaceful elections; otherwise, our democracy would be at stake. We all have a responsibility to ensure that the principles of accountability and transparency as a mark of democracy are not compromised.