Edo election: “Technology would not solve Nigeria’s electoral challenges”

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, said the outcome of last weekend’s governorship election in Edo State had shown that technology would not solve Nigeria’s electoral challenges.

Jonathan said the human mindset was key to the resolution of the electoral problems, stressing that many Nigerians had a dirty attitude to politics.

Jonathan who made the remarks in Abuja at a programme organised by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) and Partners in commemoration of the International Day of Peace, canvassed attitudinal change among citizens.

He pointed out that the power struggle remained the major cause of conflicts in Africa.

Speaking at the event, Jonathan said there was little technology could do to make right a fraudulent electoral process, as it could still be manipulated by corrupt human minds.

The former president said there was more tension after the Edo election than before it, due to the feelings that some things were not done rightly.

He stated that technology would not solve the problems in Nigeria’s electoral process, because technologies could be manipulated if the human mind was corrupt.

“Here in Nigeria, we talk about technology. Without the human mind ready to do what is right, if we bring the technology, they will manipulate it,” he said.

Jonathan said, “Actually, 10 top countries are in conflict globally. Three of them are in sub-Saharan Africa. And quite a number of countries around us, including us, are in one form of conflict or the other.

“And when you look at what causes conflict in Africa, most cases are struggle for leadership, contestation for power. And that is the main cause of conflict.

“Sometimes when you go through a society, and you can tell all kinds of stories. But by the time you do proper analysis, and dig deep, you know that most cause of conflict is leadership struggle. That is why I’m only worried about my country Nigeria.”

The former president, who chaired the occasion, said the notion that politics was dirty was wrong.

He stressed that the players were responsible for the dirty state of politics in Nigeria and Africa, in general.

According to him, “People say politics is a dirty game. The way we play our politics is the way we want to play it.

“Remember (Olusegun) Obasanjo, the former president, recently made a statement that politics is not dirty but the people that play politics, come to play politics with their dirty minds, dirty hearts and dirty character.

“And that is why people say politics is dirty. And in that case, we must all begin to think differently. We must cultivate the culture of peace.”

He said Nigerians and Africans, in general, must start developing a culture of peace, stating that peace should be part of everyday life.

Jonathan stated, “Until we get to that level where we develop the culture of peace in this country, we will always have political conflicts in our election.

“And without us strengthening that effort, without us developing that culture of testing a nation peacefully, we will always be in conflict in Africa and in Nigeria.”