GUEST WRITER (VIEWPOINT)
By Kingsley Omose
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| Gbagbo & Ouattara |
There are valuable lessons in Nigeria for those who have chosen to hire out their pens to fan the embers of sectionalism in the election of the next president, from the unfolding developments in Cote d'Ivoire were elections were recently fought out on the basis of ethnic and religious differences.
For those who have been following the news coming out from the world's largest producer of cocoa, shocking is an understatement to describe a situation where both Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Quattara are both claiming to have won the recent run-off of the Cote d'Ivoire
presidential elections.
While the electoral commission declared Alassane Quattara, who is from the northern part of Cote d'Ivoire as the winner of the presidential run-off election, the Constitutional Council charged with the responsibility of certifying the results of the election declared Laurent Gbagbo from the south as winner.
This has left Cote d'Ivoire delicately poised for an implosion that will again pitch people from the north against those from the south, and that is likely to dwarf the earlier carnage that followed the last elections which effectively divided the country into two halves after a civil war.
I make bold to say that unless an amicable solution can be found to the political impasse developing in Cote d'Ivoire, the slaughter of thousand of Kenyans that followed the announcement of results after the last presidential elections will be child's play when the forces
of destruction unleash themselves.
Although the United Nations, the American and French governments and ECOWAS have called on Laurent Gbagbo to respect the results of the election as announced by the electoral commission, he remains defiant and is holed up in the presidential villa claiming he won the
elections.
Laurent Gbagbo's defiance is impliedly predicated on the fact that the elections were fought out purely as a superiority contest between the peoples of the north and the south, and that conceding defeat to Alassane Quattara would mean a loss of face and respect for his
people.
It is immaterial that Alassane Quattra previously served as prime minister of Cote d' ivoire under Felix Houphouet Boigny during which period no one ever questioned his nationality not to talk of
questioning the right of the people from the north to be called Ivorian.
Since the death of Boigny, politics in Cote d'Ivoire has swiftly descended into an ethnic and sectional abyss, helped in no small measure by Laurent Gbagbo's desire to hold on to power by all means foul aided and abetted by pen pushers who have thrown all decorum and ethics of the journalism profession overboard.
Pen pushers from the northern part of Cote' d'Ivoire have risen to the challenge of their southern counterparts and in the process both sides have resorted to appealing to the base and animal instincts of the Ivorian people to ensure outcomes favorable to their principals.
As the Ivorian volcano bellows out thick and chocking wads of tension, frustration, anger and bitterness in preparation for volcanic eruptions of human blood, only 10, 000 neutral soldiers of the United Nations stand between the opposing camps and their foot soldiers while the pen pushers continue to incite the volcano to erupt.
From Rwanda, to Kenya, Congo, Guinea Bissau, Burundi, Bosnia and Kosovo members of the print and electronic media have been in the forefront of those backing demagogues posturing as politicians who advance positions that in themselves carry the very seeds of
destruction that result in volcanic eruptions spewing human blood in large quantities.
As Cote d'Ivoire prepares to implode, pen pushers in Nigeria who for filthy lucre have sold out to advance sectional, ethnic and religious agendas with regards to the April 2011 presidential elections must be mindful of the devastating consequences that will follow from their
penny wise pound foolish approach.
With over 400 ethnic groups and a large numbers of Muslims and Christians, playing up political issues from the north and south divide or any other divide for that matter pushes Nigeria towards the dangerous situations we are witnessing in Cote d'Ivoire without addressing their long standing problems.
We implore members of the electronic and print media not to join in the folly of those who would rather that the country go up in flames if they cannot have their way, and for them to learn from Kenya, Guinea Bissau and Cote d'Ivoire and to use their pens and cameras to steer Nigeria away from sectional abyss.
For those who have been following the news coming out from the world's largest producer of cocoa, shocking is an understatement to describe a situation where both Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Quattara are both claiming to have won the recent run-off of the Cote d'Ivoire
presidential elections.
While the electoral commission declared Alassane Quattara, who is from the northern part of Cote d'Ivoire as the winner of the presidential run-off election, the Constitutional Council charged with the responsibility of certifying the results of the election declared Laurent Gbagbo from the south as winner.
This has left Cote d'Ivoire delicately poised for an implosion that will again pitch people from the north against those from the south, and that is likely to dwarf the earlier carnage that followed the last elections which effectively divided the country into two halves after a civil war.
I make bold to say that unless an amicable solution can be found to the political impasse developing in Cote d'Ivoire, the slaughter of thousand of Kenyans that followed the announcement of results after the last presidential elections will be child's play when the forces
of destruction unleash themselves.
Although the United Nations, the American and French governments and ECOWAS have called on Laurent Gbagbo to respect the results of the election as announced by the electoral commission, he remains defiant and is holed up in the presidential villa claiming he won the
elections.
Laurent Gbagbo's defiance is impliedly predicated on the fact that the elections were fought out purely as a superiority contest between the peoples of the north and the south, and that conceding defeat to Alassane Quattara would mean a loss of face and respect for his
people.
It is immaterial that Alassane Quattra previously served as prime minister of Cote d' ivoire under Felix Houphouet Boigny during which period no one ever questioned his nationality not to talk of
questioning the right of the people from the north to be called Ivorian.
Since the death of Boigny, politics in Cote d'Ivoire has swiftly descended into an ethnic and sectional abyss, helped in no small measure by Laurent Gbagbo's desire to hold on to power by all means foul aided and abetted by pen pushers who have thrown all decorum and ethics of the journalism profession overboard.
Pen pushers from the northern part of Cote' d'Ivoire have risen to the challenge of their southern counterparts and in the process both sides have resorted to appealing to the base and animal instincts of the Ivorian people to ensure outcomes favorable to their principals.
As the Ivorian volcano bellows out thick and chocking wads of tension, frustration, anger and bitterness in preparation for volcanic eruptions of human blood, only 10, 000 neutral soldiers of the United Nations stand between the opposing camps and their foot soldiers while the pen pushers continue to incite the volcano to erupt.
From Rwanda, to Kenya, Congo, Guinea Bissau, Burundi, Bosnia and Kosovo members of the print and electronic media have been in the forefront of those backing demagogues posturing as politicians who advance positions that in themselves carry the very seeds of
destruction that result in volcanic eruptions spewing human blood in large quantities.
As Cote d'Ivoire prepares to implode, pen pushers in Nigeria who for filthy lucre have sold out to advance sectional, ethnic and religious agendas with regards to the April 2011 presidential elections must be mindful of the devastating consequences that will follow from their
penny wise pound foolish approach.
With over 400 ethnic groups and a large numbers of Muslims and Christians, playing up political issues from the north and south divide or any other divide for that matter pushes Nigeria towards the dangerous situations we are witnessing in Cote d'Ivoire without addressing their long standing problems.
We implore members of the electronic and print media not to join in the folly of those who would rather that the country go up in flames if they cannot have their way, and for them to learn from Kenya, Guinea Bissau and Cote d'Ivoire and to use their pens and cameras to steer Nigeria away from sectional abyss.
Mr. Omose wrote in from Nigeria
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