The 2019 elections are less than three months away. Political parties and the contestants are already feverishly going round the country, campaigning and laying open their programmes to the electorate so that they can be voted for during the elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has also given Nigerians an assurance that in spite of the heightened anxieties by Nigerians on its capability, it is sufficiently capable and well prepared to conduct free and fair elections all over the country, come February and March 2019. The anxieties were borne out of what international observers have adjudged as shoddy and unfair conduct of the Ekiti and Osun States gubernatorial elections by INEC, a situation which has continued to call to question the integrity of INEC and its ability to deliver a free and fair election.
The conduct of the Ekiti and Osun States elections has also continued to send palpable fears into opposition political parties and their candidates that there may be no free and fair elections in 2019.
It is laudable that political parties in the country have again committed themselves, jointly and severally, to the idea of developing and operating under a mutually agreed code of conduct that sets the parameters of acceptable behaviour for political parties, their candidates and their supporters throughout the electoral cycle
However, 68 political parties in the country met recently in Abuja. At the meeting, they drafted, adopted and signed a new code of conduct to guide their conduct before, during and after the 2019 elections.
The adoption of the code of conduct took place at a workshop organised by the Political Parties Leadership and Policy Development Centre of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies . The code passed through rigorous expert review before being presented to the parties to deliberate and agreed upon.
The new code of conduct, signed voluntarily by 68 of the political parties, is meant to guide the behaviour and conduct of politicians and their political parties during this electioneering period. It is a universal document that does not favour any political party to the exclusion of others.
The new Code of Conduct is an updated version of the one signed on July 16, 2013 by the then 25 registered political parties. For INEC, the official signing and adoption of the new code of conduct by the political parties is a positive way forward towards achieving a peaceful electioneering campaigns and elections in the country.
The code of conduct is against the making of defamatory and derogatory remarks against political opponents during campaigns. In effect, the code of conduct seeks to encourage issue-based campaigns by political candidates to convince Nigerians to vote for them and their political parties.
All the political parties and their candidates for elections are required to adhere to the code. It is expected that any breach of the code of conduct will attract some sanction by INEC against such offenders. In other civilised climes, political candidates campaign based on issues, particularly by comparing the programmes of the ruling political party with what they wish to introduce and the advantages of the new programmes they wish to introduce over the existing programmes.
It is laudable that political parties in the country have again committed themselves, jointly and severally, to the idea of developing and operating under a mutually agreed code of conduct that sets the parameters of acceptable behaviour for political parties, their candidates and their supporters throughout the electoral cycle.
By drafting, contributing to and signing the code of conduct, the political parties have also committed to a pact with Nigerians that, going forward, their activities, during the campaigns, during the elections and after the elections, will be consistent with international best practices and enhance the confidence of Nigerians in the country’s evolving democratic culture.
The political parties having committed themselves to be of good behaviour must ensure that their candidates and followers henceforth are of good behaviour during the electioneering campaigns, during and after the elections. They must put away the “political gangsterisms” characteristic of the nation’s past politics and wear the toga of a new political culture that is consistent with what obtains in the modern political arena in the advanced world.
With the political parties committing themselves to a new culture of peaceful electioneering campaigns and peaceful elections, INEC must, on its part, conduct an election that is credible, reliable, free and fair. Most importantly, it must show the world that Nigeria has come of age and is capable of leading Africa in the conduct of free and fair elections devoid of manipulations by unseen hands and favouritism.
