The National Peace Committee (NPC) under the able leadership of former Head of State, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar committed party leaders to a peace agreement shortly before the presidential elections that held on February 25. Although there were reports of irregularities, that effort was not in vain.

What followed in the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections on March 18 condemned all that the presidential candidates sought to uphold. At the end of it all, over 27 lives were lost in different parts of the country. Among the dead were security operatives who were deployed to maintain order. The NPC was set up in 2014 a few months before the 2015 presidential elections. It was an idea that worked out and earned global applause when President Goodluck Jonathan congratulated Gen. Muhammadu Buhari while collation of the results was still ongoing.

That gesture spared the nation another possible bloodbath as witnessed in the past. Gen. Abubakar and members of his committee have continued to intervene in subsequent elections and it is to their credit that we have had fairly peaceful elections from 2019. Their intervention centres majorly on the conduct of the electorate and has nothing whatsoever to do with monitoring the electoral umpire – the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Shortly before the March 18 elections, there were indications that trouble lurked around some states.

Lagos was in the news as tension engulfed the atmosphere following what looked like a face-off between two ethnic nationalities. Rivers State was as charged as Kano and Enugu but the difference was that while politicians were divided along party lines in those areas, the Lagos situation pitted one ethnic group against the other through what was clearly political manipulation. It would have made a lot of difference if the NCP showed a strong presence in a place like Lagos before the elections.

Abdusalami became a reference point when he steered a military government to return the country to civil administration in 1999. Abdusalami had served in Lagos as Commander of the 9th Brigade Ikeja. He also rose to command a division based in Enugu. The former military leader is married to a former judge and their son-in-law is governor of Niger State. His presence in Lagos would have calmed nerves among the Yoruba and Igbo. The general knows the pains of conflict. During the Civil War, Abdusalami fought on the Federal side and found it quite disturbing when his erstwhile course mates and buddies, Nnaemeka Akonobi and Ozoemena Igweze engaged him in battle as Biafran officers. Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe is a member of the Peace Committee. He is very much at home in Lagos, having served as Military Administrator between 1978 and 1979. The retired Chief of General Staff lives in Lagos and has the ears of stakeholders in the state, as a titled chief and Igbo leader. Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto is also a member of the NCP.

He is connected to the Igbo and Yoruba. As a subaltern, his first posting was in Nsukka, a town he still has strong connections with. The traditional ruler spent time in Lagos as Aide de Camp (ADC) to Military Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola in the 1990s. It would have helped douse tension if Gen. Abubakar and his team had relocated to Lagos before March 18 and called stakeholders like the state Governor, Babajide Sanwo- Olu, Chief Olabode George, Oba of Lagos, Rilwanu Akiolu, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and Femi Otedola to a peace parley. Otedola, apart from being part of the NCP, is the son of a former Lagos State governor. From Lagos, the Committee could have moved to Port Harcourt, Enugu and Kano. In the Garden City where Governor Nyesom Wike is most visible, they needed to have involved Chief Rotimi Amaechi, Dr. Peter Odili and Dokubo Asari amongst others.

Dokubo Asari is a powerful force in Rivers politics. It is no secret that he has well-armed young men loyal to him in the riverine areas of the state. Any peace effort without him may be incomplete. The militant is as influential in Rivers as Tompolo is in Delta and Bayelsa states. There is no doubt that the militants have also helped out in difficult situations. Tompolo is presently working for the Federal Government in pipeline surveillance. Some security operatives are not used to the coasts. A police officer drowned in the March 18 elections when two boats were involved in a mishap. Apparently he could not swim.

We urge the NPC to pull its weight all over the country. The composition of the body is enough to drive the point clear that peace if guaranteed creates a conducive environment for national cohesion. One small leak in Lagos, Port Harcourt or Kano can sink the Nigerian ship. It will save the nation more trouble for Gen. Abdusalami and the peacemakers to be proactive. Gubernatorial election is billed for Imo State in November. There is enough time to engage relevant stakeholders, from the governor to ex-governors and power brokers. A stitch in time saves nine.

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