Former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, has identified the struggle for power as the major cause of conflicts in Africa and Nigeria in particular.

Speaking yesterday at a programme organised by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) and partners to commemorate the International Day of Peace in Abuja, Jonathan said: ‘Ten 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, in most cases it is the struggle for leadership and contestation for power. And that is the main cause of conflict.”

The former President, who chaired the programme, noted that the notion that politics is dirty is wrong, stressing that the players were responsible for the dirty state of politics in Nigeria and Africa in general.

“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 the politics come to play politics with their dirty minds and 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 posited.

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

“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.”

Citing the recently conducted governorship election in Edo State, Jonathan said there was more tension after the election than it was before the poll due to the feelings that some things were not done rightly.

He said technology would not solve the problem in Nigeria’s electoral process, noting that the technologies would be manipulated if the human mind is 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.