Political education and the challenges of electioneering:Preliminary notes
By L. Adele JINADU
My objectives in this paper are the following. First, I indicate the senses in which we are to understand the concept of political education in our present circumstances. Secondly, I locate the need for political education against the broader background of our lived experiences with the conduct of elections and competitive electoral politics, and more specifically with electioneering. Thirdly, arising from our experience with competitive electoral politics, I indicate what I consider to be the challenges of electioneering in the country and offer some reflections on how the Nigerian Press Council, in furtherance of its determination “to enhance the moral tone and professional excellence of the Nigerian Press,” and working with other institutions and stakeholders (state and non-state) can be a positive force in shaping and using political education as a weapon, to turn the challenges of electioneering into opportunities for democratic consolidation in the country.
My starting point is the observation that political education in our present circumstances must be used to address and reverse the historically deep-rooted problematic nature of competitive electoral politics in our country. But we must realize the limits of political education as a force for addressing the problem of competitive electoral politics in the country. For that problem is complex and is due as much to cultural as to structural/materialist factors.
In this respect, if it is to address the challenges of competitive electoral politics on a long-term and sustainable basis, political education must go beyond focus on only socio-psychological or attitudinal solutions to the broader problem of engendering a liberal democratic political culture and morality. It must also turn its critical and constructive searchlight on, so as to find solutions to deeper and deepening structural problems of the country’s political economy of which the problem of competitive electoral politics is symptomatic.To say this is to emphasize that political education must in the medium or long-term, go beyond the conventional concerns with moral re-armament, with ethics, accountability and transparency, and with institutional reforms in our public life.
In other words, political education, properly speaking, and in the long term, must be a force for the structural transformation of our country. To do this, it must address issues of social and distributive justice, of income redistribution, infra-structural development and human resource development and capacity building, which are enshrined in Chapter 1of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, in the form of provisions on the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. It must address them because they are important conditions for the nurture of democratic political culture and the consolidation of liberal democracy in the country.
Let me indicate some implications of this perspective to how we should approach the challenges of electioneering for political education, in the run up to the 2007 elections. We must not reduce political education to, or conflate it with political indoctrination, political socialization, political enlightenment, or citizenship training. To do so, is to construe the meaning and import of political education in a narrow, restrictive sense. If political education involves all this or some elements of it, it also involves much more.
Properly understood, in its broad and more extended sense, political education seeks to create self-fulfilled, independent-minded individuals who take public affairs seriously, immerse themselves in it, raise questions about structures, institutions and processes, about their viability and their impact on human beings. Political education in this broader sense brings up individuals, who are prepared to go against the grain of the rest of society to uphold and defend the truth and are prepared to make sacrifices by speaking the truth to power, because those in power may in fact be subverting state and society and need to be confronted and reminded of their responsibility to uphold and pursue the common weal. Political education, therefore, covers a broad spectrum of what might be called loyalty voice and exit, whose ultimate objective is the assertion of peoples’ power.
However, my concern here is how, in the short-term, political education, narrowly conceived as public enlightenment or civic education or voter education, can be utilized to address some of the psycho-cultural impediments, to competitive electoral politics, but without losing sight of the relevance of the broader definition of political education. Without linking focus in the short-term on the narrower to the broader view of political education, we will not find a lasting, long-term solution to this inherited problem [of competitive electoral politics]. Political education narrowly defined must therefore be viewed as a short-term strategy to achieve long-term objective of political education, broadly conceived, as the handmaiden of democratic consolidation in the country.
Elections are central to competitive liberal democratic politics and require the liberal political culture of tolerance and the impartial administration of elections, including a level playing ground for their organization and conduct, and for the general public acceptance of their outcomes. However, historically, elections have constituted a festering deep sore in Nigeria’s competitive electoral politics, since the adoption of representative government in the country in 1951.
We should remind ourselves of the electoral violence that characterized party electoral polities in the Middle Belt and the Western Region, and the country generally, between 1954 and 1965, between 1979 and 1983, and more recently the 2003 elections. All these regional and federal elections, which were conducted under civilian administrations, were characterized and marred by massive fraud and violence, making a charade of electoral politics and elections, and undermining their sanctity and legitimacy as sources of political power in the country. One lesson our political class seems not to have learnt is that the legitimacy of political succession is closely and inextricably interwoven in a seamless manner with the sanctity and unsullied character of the electoral process, as a level and fair playing ground, in ensuring and guaranteeing the ex ante indeterminacy of elections.
Let us cite some specific examples of the problematic nature of competitive electoral politics in the country from the 2003 elections. A three-day dialogue on the management of electoral crisis and the challenges of democratic consolidation organized by the Centre for Advanced Social Science (CASS) in May 2003 identified the following factors that negatively affected the 2003 elections:
(a) The tendency for incumbents to manipulate state security and electoral officials to work for their re-election at all costs against the popular vote;
(b) Blatant irregularities in the conduct of party primaries, with the result that their outcomes overheated the political system;
(c) Collaboration and collusion between party agents and opposing political parties to the detriment of their own [the agents’] parties;
(d) Use of Mobile Police to perpetrate electoral malpractices;
(e) Non-observance of the code of conduct by politicians;
(I) Political party campaigns were not issues-oriented;
(g) The role and use of the media during electioneering to undermine and distort the electoral process and its outcomes;
(h) Loss of confidence in the electoral system; and
(i) lack of participation of women in the political process.
What the dialogue brought out clearly was that there was now, more than ever before, a general combination of despair, skepticism and cynicism across the country about the ability of elections to ensure and consolidate the on-going liberal democratic transition in the country. This despair about the historically deep-seated and problematic character of electoral politics in Nigeria was further fed and heightened by acrimony and tension arising out of our recent experience with the constitutional and political reform process and its lingering residual effects. There is now legitimate concern about all this presages for the 2007 elections as a do-or-die affair.
The fear of decimating violence has been heightened by our more recent experience with political assassinations, and the alleged use of harassment and persecution as scare tactics to discourage potential candidates for high public office from entering the electoral race. These are unwholesome incursions into the electoral process, with dire consequences for liberal democracy, and for political stability in the country and in the West African sub-region.
The current politics of political succession at the federal and state levels has revived troublingly sad memories about the link between contentious succession elections in 1964/1965 and in 1983, and the demise of the First and Second Republics, and, therefore, concerns with history repeating itself.
The picture that emerges from this overview of our lived historical experience with competitive electoral politics is of a political culture which views politics as a form of war, in which the pursuit of power by the political class has led to lack of respect for the formal rules governing liberal democratic politics, with competitive electoral politics assuming ruthless dimensions, since, on zero-sum calculations, premium is placed on investment in political violence as an efficiency norm, under the assumption that the winner wins all, and the loser loses all. This political culture is embedded more deeply in the character of the Nigerian state as a source of primitive accumulation, with control over it the source of economic power, under a system of production relations, which some have characterized as booty capitalism.
Under such circumstances, instead of democracy being anchored on tolerance, moderation, fair play under the rule of law and respect for the sanctity of the electoral process, it has become a tragedy in which the political class and the masses of the people are increasingly trapped in fraudulent electoral practices and the violence they spurn.
Central to this political culture, which views electoral politics as a form of war, is the provocatively abusive tone and thrust of electioneering campaigns and the partisan political use of state machinery by political parties in power as part of their electioneering arsenal, thereby creating an unfair playing ground for electoral politics. In this way, rather than being issues-based, electioneering has historically been marked by character assassination and similar provocative language, contrary to the electoral law regulating electioneering.
Against this history, and as the 2007 general elections approach and party electoral activities intensify, we can reasonably conjecture the recurrence of electoral violence on a larger and more decimating scale, with unregulated electioneering adding fuel to and aggravating this anticipated implosion of electoral violence.
This is where there is an imperative need for political education to contain and reverse the dysfunctional and system destabilizing historic tendencies of competitive electoral politics in the country. This is the challenge of electioneering for political education as we approach the 2007 elections. In other words, the question to pose is the following:
How can we design political education in such a way as to enable us channel electioneering away from its historic disruptive role in the electoral process to more functional and more supportive role for the democratic process and its consolidation in the country? How can a coalition of relevant stakeholders within the political parties, the Independent National Electoral Commission, the National Broadcasting Commission, the mass media, the civil services, the police and security agencies, faith-based groups, the electorate and the civil society be put together and mobilized to reverse this historically-determined system destabilizing or dysfunctional role of electioneering in the electoral process? What institutional and psycho-cultural remedies or solutions are required?
Because of their centrality to the electoral process, and therefore to the survival and consolidation of liberal democracy in the country, there is a compellingly pressing need to ensure that electioneering during the 2007 elections is issues-based, and that there exists a pre-election day level, free and fair playing ground for competitive electoral politics, in such a way as will increase public confidence in the ex ante indeterminacy of the 2007 elections. This, in capsule form, constitutes the challenge of electioneering during the 2007 elections for political education.
To put it differently, what short-term measures or strategies do we require as components or dimensions of political education, narrowly defined as public enlightenment, or civic education, or voter education, to engender an issues-based, relatively violent free and constructive electioneering on which to anchor the broader electoral process as we approach the 2007 elections? What should be the priority policy challenges and issue areas we should emphasize in designing a political education agenda to convert electioneering into a positive or constructive force for the conduct of credible, open, transparent, free and fair elections in the country in 2007.
If we could find answers to these questions, then we would have taken an important step forward in the war against electoral malpractices and electoral violence and towards democratic consolidation in the country.
Let me now draw on my experience as a member of the National Electoral Commission from 1987-2002 to offer some brief reflections on how to approach finding answers to these questions and to indicate what role the Nigerian Press Council can play in this respect, as an indication of its own public service and social responsibility to community and nation.
The first observation I want to make is that we need a critical core group of dedicated standardbearers, fired and propelled by a sense of social responsibility and by what is analogous to a missionary zeal and faith, to serve as building blocks on which to design and put in place strategic responses to the problem of competitive electoral politics in the country. The design must combine an intellectual with a practical approach to problem solving. It must begin with the curiousity and determination to find out why elections have historically been problematic in the country, and locating political education and the challenges of electioneering within this broader seamless canvass of competitive electoral politics.
This will enable us to identify the priority policy challenges and issue areas to focus on in linking electioneering campaigns to the desire for, and possibility of credible, open, transparent, free and fair elections in 2007: what are the problems, what are their causes and how can they be removed?
With specific focus on political education and the challenges of electioneering, we can begin by constituting a zonal electioneering task force in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country with the following remit:-
(a) To popularize, through political education (public enlightenment, voter education), within each zone the laws and related statutory regulations governing electioneering;
(b) To issue general rules, guidelines and code of conduct to define and ensure balance and fairness in the print and electronic media in the coverage and reporting of political programmes, including news broadcast and political debates, during electioneering;
(c) To take necessary steps to monitor compliance with the electioneering laws and statutory regulations, and its own rules, guidelines and code of conduct on the report of political programmes;
(d) To ensure that sanctions are imposed against those who violate the laws on electioneering and its own rules etc, on political programmes during electioneering
(e) To find out the root causes of the problem of electioneering in each zone and design strategic responses to them; and
The Nigerian Press Council can take the initiative and assume the leadership role in constituting the zonal electioneering task forces, with specific mandate and a code of ethics or conduct. The composition of the task force should be drawn from its members, as chairpersons, and from representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission, the National Broadcasting Commission, the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria, and the Transition Monitoring Group.
My second observation is that the Nigerian Press Council, working with and constructively complementing the political party monitoring and voter education mandate of the Independent National Electoral Commission, should embark on Dissemination Workshops/Seminars and Advocacy Activities, which are aimed at promoting not only institutional changes but also attitudinal and behavioural reorientation, that is supportive and reinforcing of liberal democratic political culture, among the political class, political party cadres and supporters, the citizenry, security officials and civil society organizations through civic education, voter education and
My third observation is that the objectives, the methodologies and the expected results of the activities of the task force and of the dissemination workshops/seminars should include the following:
Objective
a. To prevent or minimize the possibility of electioneering, degenerating into electoral violence.
b. To emphasize the need for political parties to develop and enforce an electoral code of conduct for party officials and candidates, especially in respect of electioneering.
c. To work with the Independent National Electoral Commission, the National Broadcasting Commission, the political parties and civil society groups, including faith-based and community groups and the police, to enhance public awareness of laws and regulations governing and regulating electioneering and the electoral law generally.
d. To work with the mass media, the Independent Electoral Commission, the National Broadcasting Commission, and the state government to prevent the partisan use of government machinery and personnel and related incumbency factors for partisan electioneeringt and to ensure sanctions are imposed, where necessary.
e. To increase civic awareness on the part of the electorate about their rights and obligations in the electoral prrocess generally.
Methodologies
Literature production & dissemination:
(a) Pamphlets containing questions & answers (do’s and don’ts) on the Electoral Law, with emphasis on electioneering laws and regulations;
(b) Posters, bill boards and leaflets on various aspects of the Electoral Law and regulations, governing electioneering;
(c) Advertisements and write-ups in the print media, highlighting various aspects of the laws and regulations governing electioneering and emphasizing the need for civility and decorum in the conduct of electioneering campaigns;
(d) Sponsored discussions, talk shows, interviews and the playing of jingles on the electronic media on various aspects of electioneering laws and regulations, including the dividend from peaceful, non-violent electioneering;
(e) Use of indigenous, grassroots community-based information networks and channels to popularize the laws and regulations governing electioneering and emphasizing the necessity for and advantages of issues-based electioneering;
(f) Monthly (or semi-monthly, if necessary) seminars, workshops, interactive sessions, focused group discussions with relevant stakeholders—political parties, candidates, the Independent Electoral Commission, the civil and public services, local government council officials, women’s and youth groups and other community groups, the police, security services, and the mass media, in the state capitals and at selected locations in every local government in each geopolitical zone, on issues relating to and arising from electioneering and the electoral process.
Expected results
(a) Engendering a less violence prone, and the promotion of issues-based electioneering and electoral process during the 2007 elections;
(b) Establishment on a sustainable, long-term basis of critical core group of zonal-based network of dedicated stakeholders, through the instrumentality of the zonal electioneering
Monitoring task force, under the leadership of the Nigerian Press Council, to monitor and ensure compliance with laws and regulations on electioneering campaigns before and during elections;
(c) Enhancement of public commitment to uphold, defend and strengthen the sanctity of the electoral process;
(d) Enhancement of the capacity of the civil society to exercise independent oversight of the electioneering process.
The stakes are already high in the build up to the 2007 elections. Everywhere in the political firmament, there are clear and threatening foreboding signs of danger and impending political thunderstorm The Presidency is already providing ominous indications that the politics of succession, unless artfully managed, may consume the nation. The politics of brinkmanship, so characteristic of the political behaviour of our political class and of our experience with competitive electoral politics since independence, unless pursued with moderation, may result in a plunge into the precipice, as our experience of October/December 1965 only too clearly warns us.
This is why the task before the Nigerian Press Council is a pressing one and why its proactive initiative in organizing this workshop and in underscoring its determination “to enhance the moral tone and professional excellence of the Nigerian Press,” are so refreshing and reassuring. It must not falter or waver in standing guard as sentinel for democracy and must continue to hold its members to the higher standards of ethics and professionalism, as we approach the 2007 election. It must be ready to wield the big axe of sanctions against those of them who live below expectations. The power of the pen, of the mass media is so awful and must, for that reason, not be used to desecrate or distort the electoral process. Rather, it must be exercised with the highest sense of social responsibility to advance the common weal.
This is what political education, in its broader sense, should mean for the Nigerian Press Council and the Nigerian Press. This is the challenge before them, as we approach the 2007 elections and beyond.

JINADU presented this paper at a workshop on Challenges of the Media Industry in Nigeria, organised by the Nigeria Press Council recently.