By Helen Ovbiagele Woman Editor

As citizens of an African country in the Third world,  Nigerians should commend themselves on their ability to hold the recent  general elections into almost all offices, all over the country.  This may seem silly, but we know that there are countries where you dare not think of a change in governance, let alone insist on it.  So, it is to our credit that we hold elections at the stipulated times these days.

As usual, after the elections, we now move on to the testy times, which is the declaration of the results and acceptance by the participants.  Pre-elections/post elections violence have become part and parcel of elections in  this country.

The amazing thing is that those who go on the rampage, engaging in wanton killing of fellow Nigerians and destroying property, are not politicians or children of politicians, but are merely carrying out the orders of some sinister people who themselves may not be politicians, but who have ulterior motives in using elections to want to destroy wantonly.  We must collectively resist this.

I refuse to believe that  any politician in this country who truly wants to serve the nation, will support and allow incidents which will claim the lives of fellow human beings.

By the time this piece is published, more results would have been declared, and like every situation in life, there would be winners and there would be losers.  I’m yet to come across a human being who is happy to lose at a contest or competition.  Even those who knew before the contest that they hadn’t the slightest chance of winning, still protest when they lose.

This is because some people see losing as an assault on their personality, on their pride, and on all they stand for in life.  While this could be a positive reaction which could spur one on to strive to work harder to be successful at one’s studies, job or profession, it is a very negative and destructive reaction when it has to do with elections results.

Why should there be bloodshed each time we go to the polls?
I’m not saying that those who have concrete evidence that they actually won the position they contested for, shouldn’t protest officially.  They should, but in a way that will not plunge their  community into chaos.  This habit of protesting every result which is not in one’s favour, when it’s very obvious that one actually lost, is childish, a waste of time,  and non-productive.

No particular person, family, ethnic group, religious group, or professional body owns Nigeria.  It belongs to every Nigerian citizen, so, no-one has the right to say that a particular seat or position belongs to him/her, and he/she must occupy it by all means, in spite of unfavourable elections results.

There’s no contest in which all the contestants have to win.  I still believe that it’s because there is so much money to be got in the presidential system of governance that people are making it a ‘do or die ’ thing.  Right from the time that a politician decides to contest, he/she should openly lecture his/her followers on the need not to engage in violence for his/her sake.  Let us see our politicians go out there to caution their followers and dissociate themselves throughout the exercise.

In several homes  in the country right now, there is grief  because of lives and property of family members have been destroyed because of the elections.  Innocent people hounded and killed for nothing.

Political parties should transparently go out there and see that there’s no violence trailing results.

Did you lose at these elections?   Congratulations for having the courage to take part, in the first place, and also that God has spared your life.  Those innocent youth corpers, possible future leaders in industry, religion,  and governance in our country, weren’t so lucky. Mobs killed them. They didn’t live to see the end of the exercise. So, if you lost in these polls and are reading this,  thank your God.

If you know that you haven’t concrete evidence that you won,  please accept the results quietly, and let the nation move on.  Do not incite hoodlums against your opponents who won, or accuse some ethnic/religious groups as being behind the reason you lost.  Nigeria should move away from such warped thinking and retrogressive behaviour.

If you really love this nation, you will join hands with your opponent who won, to make things work.  That’s assuming that the reason you stood for elections was to contribute to nation-building, and give quality to the lives of Nigerians, and not to enrich yourself with public funds.

Take a cue from Hilary Clinton, a former U.S. first lady, who fought furiously to be nominated by the Democratic Party for the last presidential elections.  She lost to Obama, an opponent. He invited her on board when he won and she’s the Foreign Secretary.   She was reported as saying recently that if Obama is re-elected president, she would like to continue being his foreign secretary, and that she won’t be contesting for presidency again.

I can’t see that sort of thing happening in this country – a former first lady of the country who lost nomination, agreeing to work under her rival who won.

That’s how to show love for your country.  She may be serving in Obama’s government, but she’s actually serving the United States of America.

We need that sort of humility and love for our nation here,  in our Politicians here.

By the way, I hope we’re going to dispose of all the cases concerning these elections before those declared winners are sworn in.  It would be very childish and unserious for us to allow cases to continue after ‘winners’ have been sworn in; a thing that has been our practice in recent years.

The whole world is watching how the most populous nation of blacks in the world, will handle this.