The Secretary General of United Nations (UN), Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, has said the forthcoming Nigerian election is a grave test for Nigeria.
President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), former head of State, are main contenders in the presidential poll on February 14, which campaign is already acrimonious.
Nigeria is the most populous black nation in the world and the UN is concerned about the election in the country because of the huge consequences of any major crisis in the country.
Ki-Moon, in chat with reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York, said: “We face another grave test as Nigeria readies for its election next month”
This is coming as Mohamed Ibn Chambas, his special representative in West Africa, also explained to the Security Council that the Nigerian general election is taking place in “an increasingly tense pre-electoral environment.”
Both Ki-Moon and Chambas link their worries mainly on the unrelenting Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeastern part of Nigeria.
“Boko Haram has continued its violence, killing Christians and Muslims, kidnapping even more women and children, and destroying churches and mosques. Mayhem has spread across the region, and is now having a direct impact on Cameroun and other countries,” Ki-Moon lamented.
He then urged the terrorists to cease their assault against the nation and the region, calling for the unconditional and immediate release of the Chibok girls abducted in April last year, insisting that the international community will not tolerate impunity, although he did not layout any new means of enforcing that.
“I urge Boko Haram’s leaders to end the destruction of so many lives and communities, and immediately and unconditionally release the kidnapped school girls and boys and all others. The international community cannot let human rights abuses continue with impunity. This is my personal appeal, as a father and grandfather. And as Secretary-General of the United Nations, I will continue to actively explore with member states what more can be done,” he added.
On the same day at another function at the UN the Security Council, which is the body’s highest organ, was also being briefed ahead of next month’s polls by a top official representing the Secretary-General at the Council meeting.
According to the official Ibn Chambas: “About a month from now, Nigerians will go to the polls for the presidential and legislative elections. The general election is taking place against a backdrop of violent insurgency by Boko Haram in the North-east and sectarian conflicts in the North Central and the North West as well as an increasingly tense pre-electoral environment.”
He specifically told the Council, which has Nigeria as a current non-permanent member, that the conduct of polls throughout the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa where the insurgency is very active “will present a formidable challenge.”
“The risk of pre-and post-electoral violence requires the international community to engage further with Nigeria, to address its ongoing challenges and to support the holding of credible and peaceful elections throughout the country”, Chambas said.
It is considered rather unusual in the UN diplomatic community here in New York, that a country which is a member of the Council is also now a security concern and subject to the Council.
Chambas continued that the West African region remains vulnerable to insecurity and terrorist threats. He restated the now well-known fact that civilian populations in the three northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe have over the past six months “been subjected to intense attacks and systematic human rights violations, including razing civilian settlements, kidnappings, suicide bombings, assassinations,” among others.
He disclosed that the death toll of this vicious violence, most of which has been attributed to Boko Haram, “is staggering, and counter-insurgency measures have failed to provide adequate protection of civilians.”
Regarding the Chibok girls, Chambas told the Security Council that since the abduction of over 200 of those schoolgirls from Chibok (Borno State) the international community has been supporting the Nigerian government’s efforts to address the problem.
He disclosed that the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force will hold the first in a series of workshops for law enforcement officials on human rights, the rule of law and prevention of terrorism during the third week ofthis month.
Chambas also reported that in his capacity as the Secretary-General’s High Level Representative to Nigeria, he visited the country in November and December to consult with high level government officials and other stakeholders “with a view to building consensus to face the threat of Boko Haram and to assess the potential of electoral-related violence.”
While the Boko Haram insurgency is deeply rooted in Nigeria, it is increasingly spilling across the borders into Cameroun, Niger and Chad, he observed.
He said more than 300,000 Nigerians have sought refuge in northwestern
Cameroun and southwestern Niger, adding pressure on the local economies in those countries and destabilizing the internal security.
Chambas, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria-Cameroun Mixed Commission on the issue of Bakassi, said the “insecurity in the Northeast of Nigeria has also seriously impeded the activities of the Cameroun-Nigeria Mixed Commission, in particular, its critical field assessments.”
