Former President Goodluck Jonathan has raised concerns over the growing practice of serving governors, senior political office holders, party leaders and other influential government functionaries converging on states during off-cycle elections with large entourages and heavy security details.
Jonathan said the development had become a matter of national concern, warning that the increasing deployment of political power and government influence around elections could create an atmosphere of apprehension, intimidation and undue pressure.
In a statement on the recent governorship election in Osun State, the former president noted that the practice had also been witnessed during the governorship elections in Ekiti and Ondo states.
He described the trend as unusual and cautioned that it should not be allowed to become an accepted feature of Nigeria’s electoral process.
According to him, political parties and their supporters have the right to campaign, mobilise and deploy legitimate party structures, but the overwhelming presence of serving governors, senior public officials and powerful political actors from across the country on election day raises questions about the fairness and atmosphere surrounding such polls.
Jonathan recalled that similar situations occurred during the 2013 Anambra and 2014 Ekiti governorship elections when he was President, saying he had directed party leaders and senior government officials to leave the states after being briefed about their presence.
He warned that if the practice continues unchecked, it could trigger a cycle in which governors and political actors from opposing parties begin to match political power with political power and mobilisation with counter-mobilisation in every state holding an election.
Jonathan said such a development would not strengthen democracy but could heighten political tensions and transform elections into battles for political survival rather than peaceful contests for the people’s mandate.
He therefore called for the issue to be addressed as a national matter rather than being treated as a partisan controversy arising from the Osun election.
The former president urged the National Peace Committee to convene a stakeholders’ engagement to examine emerging practices around off-cycle elections and establish acceptable boundaries for political conduct.
He proposed that the engagement should involve registered political parties, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, the National Assembly, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Nigeria Governors’ Forum, civil society organisations and the media.
Jonathan said the National Peace Committee was well positioned to lead the conversation, given its experience and moral authority in bringing political leaders together during periods of national tension.
He stressed that an early national conversation was necessary to ensure that practices considered unusual today do not become normalised in Nigeria’s democratic process.
