Peace Committee’s To The Villa

SIR: It is my view that the nation owes the members of the National Committee on Peaceful Election (Peace Committee) led by our respected former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, a debt of gratitude for the excellent job they have done. They intervened at the appropriate time, like Winston Churchill did in the United Kingdom during the world war, to douse the tension that accompanied the pre and post election period of 2015 in Nigeria. I believe they have done their bit as the Nigerian people have spoken by electing their leaders and I think the new leaders should be allowed to carry out their constitutional duties.

The views expressed by them during their current visit to the presidential villa may not be out of place after all, especially, if one takes out the veiled threat expressed by a handful of them during the visit. The truth of it is that as religious leaders and past leaders of the nation, one should not expect anything short of a peaceful mission from them. This perhaps explains why they had to meet with the former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, prior to their meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa.

It is acknowledged that they wish to pursue peace and I dare say even at all costs. However, this peace must not be of the graveyard. I think the citizens of Nigeria in addition to having peace equally deserve justice. When we have justice, there will of course be peace. The import however is that where there is justice and equal right for all the citizens, peace is no doubt bound to be the end product

The apparent warning to the President that this is not a military regime was obviously not too good a taste in the mouth. We are all aware that we are in a democratic regime being a civilian rule propelled by the 1999 Constitution. The allusion to a military regime is therefore an aberration and has no place either in Law or in fact. If military tactics will help the nation to achieve the desired result in governance, I do not think anyone should lose his or her sleep over that. Any infraction of any individual’s right in the application of the military tactics will, of course, not be immuned from a consequential challenge in the Law Court.
Therefore, the present regime should be allowed to sanitise the polity, which has suffered a lot of rot and need to be cleansed and quickly too.

To my mind, the Peace Committee has served its purpose. It is time for them to take the back seat and allow the government to run the show.

• Olugbenga Fabilola,
Lagos.