Healing the nation after elections

EZE ONYEKPERE FROM PUNCH

The 2023 elections for the presidential, National Assembly, governorship and state houses of assembly have ended except in a few areas where the Independent National Electoral Commission has yet to conclude proceedings. However, the process has yet to be concluded because persons who feel aggrieved by the results still have the opportunity to file suits before the election petition tribunals and follow them up to the appeal stage and at the final and apex Supreme Court. But there are still outstanding issues beyond the election. It is about peace and consensus building, reconciliation and uniting the nation so that the majority, if not all Nigerians, will support the government at different levels for the task of development and nation building.

The foregoing is the central challenge of post-election governance. But the challenge is enormous and may not be easy to deal with if the contending parties do not understand the “why” and “how” of reconciliation. The first is to understand the “why” of unity and reconciliation. Unanimity of purpose and working together is important. Nations are built by the collective purpose and contribution of all groups and stakeholders in the polity. Every group needs to feel a sense of belonging, of its contribution being appreciated and its membership of the whole being specifically acknowledged. It is about citizenship, human rights and fundamental freedoms being the basis of nation building. No person contributes his ultimate in a space where he or the group he belongs is oppressed, where his person and identity are profiled, his humanity and personhood are denigrated. Indeed, no one contributes his best in a society where his citizenship is denied and he is treated as a second- or third-class resident.

The first four preambular paragraphs of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets the tone of the relationship between human rights and nation building. Its states: “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world; Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people; Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”

The foregoing establishes that respect for fundamental rights including the right to vote is the foundation of justice and peace which are prerequisites for development. Again, article 21 (3) of the UDHR states that: “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”

When the right of citizens to vote is denied, subverted or the votes are not allowed to count, then the foundation for development is subverted.