Outline of Themes and Topics:
- Dedication, Acknowledgement, and Introduction
- Formulating Fair Political Status and Voting Structure for Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria
- Formulating a Democratic Unity Government for Nigeria
- Voices of Peace, Voices of Reason
- Founding School-based Peace Clubs in All Schools and at All Educational Levels in Nigeria
- Founding Community-based Peace Clubs in All Federal, State, and Local Government Constituencies in Nigeria
- Creating a New Constituency of Peace and Nation Builders in Nigeria
- Planting and Nurturing the Tree of Peace in Nigeria
- Embracing the Work of African Projects/Foundation for Peace and Love Initiatives Nationwide in Nigeria
- Circulating and Implementing the Peace Message (People and Places)
- The Author and the Organization
- Conclusion
Dedication, Acknowledgement, and Introduction
Dedicated to 2023 Nigeria Peaceful Elections. Since 1999, AFPLI has rallied on the streets of Lagos State and other Southwest States for peaceful elections. Similar AFPLI events took place for peaceful elections in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019.
Formulating Fair Political Status and Voting Structure for Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria
- A brief history of Abuja, the FCT
- Political controversies surrounding Abuja since inception
- Identifying the political problem
- Proffering the solution
- Model PQR (Proxy, Quota, Representative)
- Implementing the model
- A brief history of Abuja, the FCT
Abubakar-Ja, a major ancient town in the Niger State, abbreviated as Abuja, became the new federal capital of Nigeria on 12 December 1991, following the promulgation of Degree No. 6 of 1976 by the then military administration of Nigeria (Abubakar, 2020).
The political voting status of Abuja, the FCT, which was not addressed seriously until the promulgation of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), stated in Section 134(2)(b) that:
“To be declared President winner, a candidate must secure at least one-fourth (25%) of votes cast in two-thirds of the entire 36 states of Nigeria (that is, in 24 states). Also, the candidate must secure not less than 25% of the votes cast in the FCT.”
Keen observation and analysis of the results of the February 25, 2023, presidential election will prove this constitutional stipulation to be a misguided or misconstrued act. It is doubtful if it was thoroughly debated before legislation. And, therefore, it could be considered a mere expectation devoid of any tangible legislative promise.
In the best of intents, ascribing the 25% decoding vote status to Abuja, the FCT, could be considered a misplaced speculation that unfortunately has caused extensive rancor as far as the outcome of the February 25, 2023, presidential election in Nigeria was concerned. One could even contend that 25% deciding voters’ status of the Abuja FCT was a coup d’état.
The first and most important part of the Section expects the winner of the presidential election to secure two-thirds of 36 states, which, arithmetically, is clear winning in 24 states (though sense of interpretation, which 25% in at least two-thirds of 36 states). There is a clear misunderstanding in the interpretation suggesting a flaw in the 1999 Constitutional aspects of the law, thus calling for an amendment in the Constitution.
But the three leading political parties’ presidential candidates won in 12 states each. The Labor Party, whose presidential candidate won only 25% and above in Abuja FCT, did not win 25% in two-thirds of the states of the federation. By a plurality of votes won, it finished third in the presidential election held on February 25, 2023.
The second part of Section 134(2)(b) even presented a situation of a coup d’état regarding the electoral law and the presidential election, because it created the erroneous impression that only a presidential candidate who won 25% in Abuja FCT won the presidential election. Hence the reason why Peter Obi and the Obedients, his followers, thought the Labor Party candidate had won the election.
Apart from the fact that only one presidential candidate (Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC) secured winning vote totals in at least 24 states, the mere fact that one presidential candidate won more than 25% in Abuja FCT does not qualify him to become the President-Elect.
This has caused considerable ambiguity. There have been divergent opinions among the legal interpretations of the situation, whereas several Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and respected legal luminaries are divided among themselves. Thus, the aggrieved parties believe that their mandate has been stolen from them and have therefore petitioned the Election Tribunal for adjudication.
How the Election Tribunal will judge the case is difficult to predict, but the first scenario to consider is “should a presidential candidate win 25% votes at Abuja FCT but lose in the other 36 states, or fail to win the majority of votes in the presidential election nationwide, will that qualify him or her to become the President-Elect of the nation as in the case of the February 25, 2023, presidential elections?”
Yet, there is a second possibility. What will happen if all three of the contenders won 25% each in Abuja FCT? That was a possibility beyond a mere probability because it has been possible for them to have won 12 states each from the 36 states of the federation, they could as well have won 25% each in Abuja FCT.
(Though this is not the purpose of this article, the probability that Nigeria will eventually hemorrhage at tribal/ethnic fault lines should be obvious to both the keen observer and the serious analyst.)
Another point, which is also not the principal goal of this piece, is the low turnout of the presidential election at Abuja FCT. Records show that 1,373,400 voters were registered, but only 478,923 people voted out of which 446,811 votes were validated. This low turnout also affected other places, as only 61% of registered voters voted in the presidential elections across the country in the 2023 General Elections.
- Political controversies surrounding Abuja since inception—when it became the New Federal Capital Territory in 1991
When Nigeria was desirous to create a new federal capital to replace Lagos, the committee charged with the task of recommending the new capital territory considered several places, among which were Agege, Okene, Kafanchan, Markurdi, Ile, and Auchi (Abubakar, 2020).
Therefore, the need to enact a clearer legal status, particularly voting rights for citizens of Abuja, cannot be overemphasized, as this author has expressed on several occasions. Please see: [3/9, 4:02 AM] Titus Kolawole Oyeyemi:
Some of the enabling processes to do this, directly or indirectly, are currently in discussion. For example, the bill to determine compensations for the displaced indigenes of Abuja FCT was passed by the House of Representatives in January 2022.
Please see Udora Orizu in Abuja, 2022. House Passed FCT Indigenes Resettlement Bill for Second Reading.
And as recently as November 2022, a workshop was held at Abuja that produced two groups. The first was a group of journalists to discuss the issues of indigenes of Abuja and other places who are faced with marginalization and disenfranchisement. The second was a group of lawyers saddled with similar objectives. However, it cannot be said precisely that the status of the Abuja FCT voters is part of their mandate. The affected indigenes belong to places like Gwari, Nupe, Ganagana, Koro, Ebira, Bassa, and others that made up the nine aboriginal ethnic groups of Abuja FCT.
Please see Maryam Abdullahi, 2022. Lawyers, journalists form networks to support FCT indigenes.
Therefore, to determine the rightful voting status of Abuja FCT, it will be necessary to provide answers to these questions:
1. Why is more importance ascribed to Abuja than it deserves?
2. Is Abuja a representative capital?
3. Is Abuja a proxy capital?
4. Is Abuja a capital by quota?
(It is possible for someone to ask for the precedence of these assertions. This author will give as examples the following Bible passages that emanated during the time that King David wanted to make Jerusalem the City of the King and the new capital of Israel in those ancient days. Please see Psalms 15, 24, 91, and 101.)
Therefore, to truly enfranchise the residents of Abuja FCT, consideration should be given to the above conditions, by applying a formular that this author has called PQR where P stands for Proxy, Q stands for Quota, and R stands for Representative, namely:
- If Abuja FCT is to be seen as a proxy capital, the votes of indigenes or so-called aboriginals—that is, Gwari, Nupe, Ganagana, Koro, Ebira, Bassa, Gade, Dibo, and Amwamwa, that made up the nine aboriginal ethnic groups of Abuja FCT. They are proxy voters in the sense that they had original states before their territory became the FCT. Those states are: Kaduna, Kwara, Niger, and Plateau. Those citizens now part of Abuja FCT can vote as proxy voters in those states. It will be incumbent on the INEC to count their votes and add the results to their initial states of origin. Proxy is the P of PQR.
- The true residents of Abuja FCT whose votes should count for the Presidential Election are citizens by quotas. This quota system should be opened to all Nigerians from the 36 states of the country. If states contribute residents to Abuja FCT, then no state will have an advantage and no state will have a disadvantage. Quota is Q of PQR for evaluating the votes of the residents of Abuja FCT.
- If Abuja is to be seen as a representative capital, any citizen living in Abuja at any time should be able to consider himself or herself as a representative of their state of origin and should therefore be able to vote in any election in which other citizens of their state of origin can vote. Tabulation or calculation of such representative votes should be assigned to the state of origins by INEC. Representative is the R of the PQR formula.
Two conditions support the model, as follows:
Condition 1: Let’s remember that some states are in closer proximity to Abuja FCT, giving them easy movement to Abuja FCT. Likewise, people of some states in Nigeria are born migrants. Their citizens conceivably could have the tendency to relocate to Abuja FCT en masse to dominate presidential voting.
Condition 2: The February 25 presidential election witnessed this condition in the 2023 general elections, where, because of the mass population of Igbos in Lagos State and at Abuja FCT, the Labor Party was able to receive larger votes than usual in those two states.
The effect was that Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labor Party, won most of the votes in Lagos States over Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), a two-term governor of Lagos State. A similar situation was experienced in Abuja FCT. Though the location of Abuja FCT is closer to the north, where Abubakar Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party could have enjoyed a natural advantage, Peter Obi of the Labor Party won.
How Apply the PQR formula to Abuja FCT?
Implementing the PQR formula
Step 1: Every new generation—say, 10 to 13 years—should use the quota system to obtain the residence status of Abuja FCT.
Step 2: People who can participate in the quota applications should be within a certain age range, say, 18–23 years of age.
Step 3: A time frame should be stipulated when the application process of the eligible citizens from the 36 states of the federation can apply for the residential status of Abuja FCT.
Step 4: With 2027 being the next Presidential election year, the process of the quota system should start in 2025 as the base year.
Step 5: So in 2025 Nigerians who are 18–23 would be able to participate in the quota application system.
Step 6: Adding 10 to 13 years to 2025 will give us 2035 or 2038, which would be the equivalent of two voting cycles. The next quota application system would therefore start in 2035 for the election year of 2038.
Step 7: In 2038 new sets of citizens who entered the quota system will replace those who entered the system in 2025.
Step 8: In 2038 the term of the 2025 Abuja FCT residence will expire. When their quota status expires, they could become residents by representative or residents by proxy.
Step 9: To make the quota system work, the NASS (National Assembly) would have to enact a law to validate the quota system that would stipulate the base year to start the quota system, how many citizens each state can allocate to the system, and give INEC power and authority to operate the system.
Step 10: INEC would therefore administer the PQR formula for residents of Abuja FCT.
In this way, no state or political party would have any advantage over another as far as voting in Abuja FCT is concerned. Abuja FCT indigenes would stop being stateless and stop being disenfranchised.
Formulating a Democratic Unity Government for Nigeria
Every now and again there is a clamor for a unity government, particularly, when there are controversies attending general elections. An option that has been proposed for a unity government by Tinubu is a government of competence, yet spread demographically across the country, to include capable women and youths.
My recommendation for a unity government is this: Federal government by a selection of the three highest vote totals in the Presidential Election. For example:
APC: President—having scored the most votes.
PDP: Judiciary, Chief Justice/Judge of the federation—having scored second most votes.
LP: Inspector General of Police (IG)—having scored third most votes.
These people and their positions automatically would become national figures and representatives in nature. They become apolitical and non-partisan for their appointments for the next four years.
They can contest in their political party affiliations after four years or at a certain time stipulated by law.
Voices of Peace, Voices of Reason
Below I will highlight some voices of peace and voices of reason. There is no point wasting ink, paper and time amplifying the voices of disunity, violence and campaigns of calumny that have saturated the social media over the course of the 2023 electioneering campaign and since the election.
- Professor Wole Soyinka, the Laurette
I was still a neonate when in 1952, Professor Wole Soyinka and his six friends, in their youthful exuberance, founded the Pyrate Confraternity at the University College, Ibadan, then part of the University of London, calling themselves the “Magnificent Seven” (G7). By their actions, Cultism became the order of the day in Nigeria’s citadel of learning. However, in 2003, when I became of age, and realized that Professor Soyinka might have followed the teachings of some scholars like Jacques Derrida to promote deconstruction which veered into metaphysis and then, occultism, I introduced school-based peace clubs to counter the effects and roles of occultism in schools. So, during this feud on the presidential election, Professor Soyinka intervened by asking young people, particularly the Obidients, to make reasonable demands by accepting the election of Bola Tinubu. He was countered by many youths as having to moral rights to call on the youths to demand advise the youths because he has followed a social and political disobedient agitation throughout his professional and career life. Vocal among the critics of Professor Soyinka is one Chimamada Ngozi Adichie, who had even written a false accusation letter of INEC wrongdoing to Joe Biden, the President of the United States of America. Givenhis now new-found interest in peacebuilding, I hope and pray that Professor Wole Soyinka would renounce cultism before departing this planet earth to join his ancestors.
- General Olusegun Obasanjo
General Olusegun Obasanjo is former Head of State in Nigeria and two times the Civilian President of Nigeria. Just like several leaders in Nigeria, General Obasanjo believed found in Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labor Party, the coveted capacity to right the wrongs that Nigeria has passed through for several years. General Obasanjo was not alone in this euphoria. Professor Wole Soyinka and others like Pa Banjo, the leader of Afenifere, the Pan-Yoruba Association, fell for the charismas of Peter Obi, who also is the doyen of the Nigerian youths across the nation. However, after realizing that Peter Obi had problems winning the presidential election, he began to make overtures for reconciliation among the feuding political parties and their adherents. His appeals for a settlement out of the Election Tribunal has not received the listening ears of several Nigerian, particularly ‘the Obedient’, who are bent on scuttling the inauguration of President Elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC on May 29, 2023.
- Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo
Few days ago on Monday, April 17, while addressing the maiden Policy Making and Governance Lecture Series of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru near Jos, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo stated that it is possible for Nigeria to conquer ethnic and religious prejudices as they are crucial issues in building unified nation. This opinion resonates with the ideologies that APPLI/AFPLI has been peddling since her inception in 2003 as a proactive grassroots peacebuilding advocacy since 2003. According to the Vice-President, diversity as being experienced in Nigeria, should deepen the pool of sociocultural capital available to Nigerians, and not a harbinger of friction. In all propensity, socio-cultural adjustment constitutes a major aspect of the fundamentals for proactive grassroots peacebuilding being promoted at APPLI/AFPLI. One would readily agree with the Vice-President that the perennial peace accord being signed by Nigerian politicians was hardly producing the expected political peace before, during and after the electioneering processes across the country.
- Babatunde Raji Fashola
Before Babatunde Raji Fashola became the Executive Governor of Lagos State from May 29 2007 to May 29, 2015, he was the Chief of Staff to Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos State for eight years. Governor Fashola then went ahead to serve in the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the Minister of Power, Works and Housing from November 11, 2015 till date under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. It can only be imagined how traumatic it must have been for Babatunde Raji Fashola that the 2023 presidential election was won by Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labor Party (LP). In spite of the surprises expressed by the governor over the outcome of the presidential election in Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola had taken everything in his ride and has encouraged already encourage others to move positively on.
Founding School-based Peace Clubs in All Schools and at All Educational Levels in Nigeria
It was in 2003, exactly two decades ago, that the NGO (non-governmental organization), African Projects for Peace and Love Initiatives, was founded in the State of Illinois, U.S.A., with the theme of promoting proactive grassroots peacebuilding for ethnoreligious and ethnopolitical harmony through structured education for peace and sociocultural adjustment programs. Two years later, in June 2005, the African Foundation for Peace and Love Initiatives, was established in Nigeria. The United Kingdom chapter of the NGO also was founded in 2005.
On April 11, 2011, African Projects/Foundation for Peace and Love Initiatives was recognized as an NGO by the United Nations Department of Public Administration (UNDPA). And on September 14, 2021, CSO Net (ngobranch@un.org) granted African Projects/Foundation for Peace and Love Initiatives ECOSOC Consultative Status.
The current violence plaguing Nigeria in the general elections of 2023 has confirmed the need for our 20-year-old vision of promoting ethnoreligious and ethnopolitical disharmony in Nigerian politics. These political and religious conflict issues and other systemic violence call for drastic approaches and resolutions.
We have the assurances that if recommendations and proposals put forward by APPLI/AFPLI are embraced at the federal, state, and local government levels, Africa, not only Nigeria, would become the Future Land of Peace.
For example, our school-based peace clubs work with a concept of “20-year long tomorrow for youth peace and nation building.” Those 20 years are broken down into the following sections for school-based clubs:
1. African Children of Peace Clubs, targeting children in nursery and primary schools, using an adapted curriculum from a book titled Growing with Peace. The age range is 5 to 11 years old. School teachers, school proprietors, and community leaders are mobilized to inculcate peacebuilding into the psyches of these children.
2. Secondary schools in Nigeria run a six-year peace program, broken into junior and senior of three years apiece. The school-based peace club targeting the secondary school is called “Y-PAC.” We use a 52-week curriculum to teach at this level on weekly basis during the co-curricular activities in public and private secondary schools in Nigeria.
3. Our third school-based peace club is called KAIROS Peace and Love Club and is targeted at the four years that young Nigerians will be spend at institutions of higher learning. Schools involved are universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education. The vision has been to use the 40 courses contained in my book Equipping the New African Peacebuilder as the principal curriculum for these school-based peace clubs.
4. Our fourth school-based peace club is targeted at young Nigerian graduates who compulsorily spend one year doing national youth service (NYSC). These young graduates are posted across the 36 states of the Nigerian federation. The Equipping the African Peacebuilder and other focused and structured peace education lectures are used as curriculum for this one-year program.
When the time spent as a member of the school-based peace clubs from nursery through tertiary and NYSC is added together, that we come to the idea of 20-year long tomorrow for youth peace and nation building. We have high optimism regarding our vision of Africa as the Future Land of Peace if we can find support and encouragement at every level of the mission for implementation and actualization and necessary buy-in.
Founding Community-based Peace Clubs in All Federal, State, and Local Government Constituencies in Nigeria
The community-based peace club was an idea conceived at the same time school-based peace clubs were conceived. The primary idea was that if the children could belong to peace clubs in their schools, it should be possible for them to experience a similar condition of peacebuilding at home and in their communities. Administratively, we planned to anchor these community-based clubs at the local government offices. Any community aspiring to start a community-based peace club should be able to obtain registration forms from the local government in their area and register the community-based peace club with the local government. In that way, the community-based peace club would become an entity recognized by a local government. An officer of the local government shall oversee monitoring and regulating the community-based peace club. In addition to finding these community-based peace clubs in cities and towns, villages, and hamlets, they could be established at religious houses, marketplaces, and so on.
Creating a New Constituency of Peace and Nation Builders in Nigeria
At APPLI/AFPLI we have conceptualized the initiatives that we have described as proactive grassroots peacebuilding for ethnoreligious and ethnopolitical harmony. We believe that if these initiatives are conscientiously developed and embraced by the African nations, through the processes of structured education for peace (SEP) and sociocultural adjustment programs (SAP), it could result in the cultivation of a new constituency of youth peace and nation builders. The fertile grounds to cultivate, nurture, grow, and develop the new constituencies shall be the school-based peace clubs, which then could feed into community-based peaceful co-existence, otherwise conceptualized as co-existence education, which by some sectors are regarded as peace and conflict education (PACE) and culture of peace education (COPE).
Because the academics of peace and conflict education cannot only be taught in the abstract, we have introduced the cultural aspects of peace education. It is our desire that by working with the instrumentality of our school-based peace clubs, we will encourage the young populace to grow and cultivate necessary cultures of peacebuilding for co-existence as they advance in age from infancy through adolescence to adulthood.
And because our school-based peace clubs are age-driven, we have designed and developed a number of age-relevant curriculums. For example (as previously noted): We use the book Growing with Peace for African Children of Peace Clubs (ACPC). For the Youth Peace Alliance Clubs (Y-PAC), we use Cultivating Youth Peace and Nation Building, a 52-week peace education curriculum, as a method of teaching peace to secondary school students. Alongside this curriculum is a project-focused work called Evaluating Peace Education as Mainstream Curriculum: A Study of Nigerian Junior Secondary Schools. For the KAIROS Peace and Love Clubs (KPLC) and the National Peace Legacy Clubs (NPLC), a book titled Equipping the New African Peacebuilder is used. Both books—Evaluating and Equipping—were authored by Rev. Dr. Titus Kolawole Oyeyemi, the founding president and CEO of APPLI/AFPLI.
Our library is stocked with a huge collection of peace education books, including a compendium of 50 speeches that Dr. Oyeyemi used to teach peace education between 2005 and 2010. Beginning in 2011, when the United Nations recognized and accredited APPLI/AFPLI as an NGO teaching proactive grassroots peacebuilding education, the African Peace Annual Report has been published annually. In 2017 Dr. Oyeyemi published a booklet called “A Tree of Peace Is Growing in Nigeria: The Story of APPLI/AFPLI.” Many of these publications are available on the Internet.
Over the years we have promoted our desire to institutionalize our concept of proactive grassroots peacebuilding for ethnoreligious and ethnopolitical harmony. In 2010 we established TimeOn KAIROS Peace Education Institute, which has been recognized and approved by the Lagos State Ministry of Education as a model community college. The college became TimeOn KAIROS Community College (TKCC) in 2021 to enjoy an official government-approved secondary school in Lagos State. In 2014 the TimeOn KAIROS Educational and Vocational Institute (TKEVI) was incorporated and became accredited in 2016 by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). In October 2018 the TimeOn KAIROS Polytechnic was accredited by the NBTE. Current efforts are being undertaken to affiliate TimeOn KAIROS Peace Institute with the Urban and Regional Planning Department of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) to be eventually accredited for full-fledged Peace Institute for PACE and COPE by the NBTE. We are therefore moving with the times and the trends as we enter spring 2023 and beyond with optimism and expectations. Some of those expectations may include the publication of an Album and Directory of Alumni from 2005 to the present.
Planting and Nurturing the Tree of Peace in Nigeria
Before receiving UNDPI’s accreditation in 2011, APPLI/AFPLI, an interfaith venture with a Christian perspective, which had various tentacles in its roots, was branded as a tree of peace growing in Africa, using the symbolism of an apple tree to depict a growing grassroots peacebuilding for ethnoreligious and ethnopolitical harmony through structured education for peace (SEP) and social-cultural adjustments programs (SAP). Ultimately, by taking its roots downward in the conflict-soiled African countries, this peace tree is therefore growing upwards in its branches, with fruits of conflict resolution, conflict management, conflict transformation, and proactive grassroots peacebuilding.
Invariably, we know the tree by its fruit. While the fruits listed above are prominent and identifiable, the tree itself is unique in various ways. Among which are (a) the school- and community-based peace clubs; (b) several signature programs, such as (i) the student acquiring medial (SAM) peacebuilding skills, (ii) peace media parley (PMP), a discussion forum subsisting between the organization and practicing journalists who are members of the Nigeria Union of Journalism (NUJ); (iii) Ethnoreligious Harmony Day observed in schools on the second Wednesday of the month, at churches on the second Sunday of the month, and at mosques on the second Friday of the month; (iv) several signature programs tailored to the programs of the United Nations organization, UNICEF and UNESCO; and (c) the national airspace safety prayers fellowship with the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), to mention just a few.
Incidentally, the vision that produced Africa, the Future Land Peace, was not unconnected with the violence that greeted the June 12, 1993, General Elections, and other elections before it in Nigeria and other African countries. It was the same vision that drove this author to produce the books Equipping the New African Peacebuilder and Evaluating Peace Education: A Study of Nigerian Jr. Secondary Schools.
We can still recall the free and fair elections that produced Moshood Kashimawo Abiola as the President-Elect nearly three decades ago in 1993, which was annulled by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babaginda and got replaced by an interim government. That situation may well repeat itself as a number of young Nigerian people are clamoring for another interim government for Nigeria. It goes beyond every imagination what some young but vocal and politically active Nigerians are doing on social media to speed up the annulment of the 2023 elections that have produced as President-Elect, Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
Embracing the Work of African Projects/Foundation for Peace and Love Initiatives Nationwide in Nigeria
As can be seen from the text above, APPLI/AFPLI is a conjunction of need with opportunity. What is the need? What is the opportunity?
The Need
The need is to conscientiously and determinedly pursue and build peace among young Nigerians in particular—and young people all over the world in general. As stated in the blurb about my book, Evaluating Peace Education: A Study of Nigerian Jr. Secondary Schools:
“Violence may be a common response when young people experience social and psychological burdens. More often than not, authorities do not always have appropriate or adequate responses to youth violence. The problem is compounded when institutionalized violence is employed to counter youthful and ephemeral violence. The difficulties and frustrations which ensue can become unmanageable …”
Please consider the consequences of the End Sars protests in Nigeria in 2020, as well as other religious and political violence that has sent all too many Nigerian youths to their untimely graves.
The Opportunity
Proactive grassroots peacebuilding for ethnoreligious and ethnopolitical political harmony, being pursued and promoted by African Projects/Foundation for Peace and Love Initiatives could be the opportunity needed to correct the violence of the youths and the adolescents.
The need to teach peace education to young people while still in middle or high school cannot be overemphasized.
Borrowing Insights from Biblical and Ancient Perspective
The question to ask is: “Is peace possible?
Identifying the need and recognizing the opportunity calls for asking the right question and proffering the right answer. The question to ask therefore is “Is peace possible on Earth?” This question has been asked in a variety of ways in the Jewish and Christian scriptures and other ancient writings, which attempted to locate the source of unpeace (chaos) or war, which could be described as chaos in the cosmos.
Cosmos is another word for universe. So, if unpeace is a situation before the cosmos, the darkness before the light (compare Genesis, Chapter 1, verses 1–2, to Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 3), one can say there was war at the beginning of a new world order or new creation. However, we saw the contravention of this cosmos through the incursion of the cosmos by the devil or the evil one in Genesis, Chapter 3.
Was there an anthropological gap? Or was there a God (deity/divine) gap? Do human beings invariably miss their peace?
What was the dimension of that gap to have resulted eventually in Genesis 6:6:
“And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” RSV (Revised Standard Version).
Was this only an anthropological issue? Do human beings invariably miss their peace?
Luke 19:41-44: “As he drew near; he saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes, and because humanity always don’t know what makes for their peace, the condition of Luke 19:43 shall always be the case.
“For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade again you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will dash you to the ground, you, and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
When Jesus was born, was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and was laid in a manger—the angelic host of heaven came and sang the Advent song contained in Luke 2:13–14.
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’”
And one could not help but wonder why this song of the heavenly host changed, within 33 years, the approximate lifetime of Jesus Christ on earth, from peace on earth toward men to peace in heaven and glory in the highest?
In Luke 19:38 we read:
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
It is interesting how the New International Version (NIV) renders this translation. While some translations render it as hosanna in heaven, both the King James Version (KJV) and NIV say “peace in heaven.” Could it be the “Peace on earth and goodwill toward men” of Luke 2:14 has become “‘Peace in heaven’ and glory in the highest”? What could have returned or sent the one on Earth back to heaven so quickly?
Interestingly, Jesus not only was the purveyor or merchant of peace but also peace personified.
“My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth” (John 14:27, KJV).
He is our peace because he had made one out of two by abolishing hate with his own flesh. Whether you are near or are far, Jesus has given us (you and me) peace. He came to preach peace. He is the Prince of Peace.
The Story of Esau and Jacob
Esau and Jacob were the grandsons of Abraham through Sarah, their grandmother. Abraham had other wives beside Sarah, notably Hagar and Keturah. Hagar was the mother of Ishmael, which resulted in intractable dysfunctional family feuds and religious wars during biblical times of Ishmael and Isaac and their offspring.
Esau and Jacob, unlike the direct children of Abraham by many wives, were born into a monogamous home. Let us remember here that the other sons of Abraham, through Keturah, were uncles of Jacob, who became Israel, and that by fiat of God, the Midianites and children from other wives of Abraham, were thorns in the flesh of the Israelites, the grand progenitors of Abraham and Sarah.
The things of God are sometimes said to be mysterious or even slippery. Could this be equivalent to our popular metaphor of slippery slope as we often refer to it? However, it will be recalled that Rebekah and Isaac, the parents of Esau and Jacob, contributed to the unpeace between those two brothers, which became a lingering feud among humanity to this day.
This is not the place, though, to do exhaustive analysis of the enmity between Esau and Jacob. The point I want to highlight is: Was there any moment when a lasting peace could have prevailed between the two brothers and their offspring? I found such a story in Genesis 33:12–17 ( ):
“Then Esau said, ‘Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of you. But Jacob said to him, ‘My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir. So Esau said, ‘Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.’ But he said, ‘What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.’ So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore, the name of the place is called Succoth.”
Perhaps if Genesis 33 had not been written, the choices that lead to peace would not be as clear. But in this case, Jacob threw away the offer of peace proposed by his brother, Esau. We can see politics at play here. Was there hidden fear amplified and escalated by insecurity and deceit? That’s exactly what politics does. It amplifies and escalates unwarranted or unknown fear and insecurity. For Jacob, Seir became the road not taken. Who knows what the consequences could have been had he agreed to go to Seir with his brother, Esau? Nobody could, because it was the road never taken. But one could speculate it was a road to peace not taken. A moment of peace never to beknown. Can one consider this as an “anthropology of human decision making” or the “dilemma of human action”? There are several other examples of this type of situation in the Bible or other ancient historical events. And because we are their heirs, we all too often cannot escape falling into similar pits!
The Answer
Yes! Peace is possible. Going by the question asked and the answer is given in James 4:1 in the King James Version of the Bible …
“From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?”
Is it that simple? If examined from the perspective of the story of Cain and Abel, the first sons of humanity on earth, was lust (broadly defined) responsible for the enmity and conflicts between Cain and Abel? Can lust be seen as a key explanation of the situation between Esau and Jacob, the grandsons of Abraham through their parents Isaac and Rebekah? And on down the generations even to our own times. Could wars be eradicated if lust is eliminated? Would peace be possible if lust is no more?
How can one interpret the ongoing acrimonies over the just concluded 2023 general elections in Nigeria? Is lust not responsible for the situation of conflict and unpeace that has greeted the Presidential election and other elections? This writer believes that there can be peace if lust, including the lust for power, is eradicated from world political systems.
Circulating and Implementing the Peace Message
(People and Places)
- Ahmed Bola Tinubu
- Gbajabiamila
- Sanwo-Olu
- Speaker of every State of Assembly
- Governor of every State in the Federation
- Leadership in the House of Representative
- President of the Senate
- Deputy President of the Senate
| NEW SENATORS ELECT | ||||
| NAME | PARTY | STATE | ||
| 1 | Darlington Nwokeoch | LP | Abia | |
| 2 | Ishaku Elisha Cliff | APC | Adamawa | |
| 3 | Aminu Iya Abbas | PDP | Adamawa | |
| 4 | Akpabio Gowon Obot | APC | Akwa Ibom | |
| 5 | Bassey Aniekan Atim | PDP | Akwa Ibom | |
| 6 | Tonye Nwoye | LP | Anambra | |
| 7 | Umeh Victor Chukwunonye | LP | Anambra | |
| 8 | Umah Shehu Buba | APC | Bauchi | |
| 9 | Ahmed Abdul Ningi | PDP | Bauchi | |
| 10 | Samaila Dahuwa Kaila | PDP | Bauchi | |
| 11 | Agadaga Benson Sunday | PDP | Bayelsa | |
| 12 | Benson Friday Kobowei | PDP | Bayelsa | |
| 13 | Dickson Henry Seriake | PDP | Bayelsa | |
| 14 | Udende Memsa Emmanuel | APC | Benue | |
| 15 | Titus Tartenger Zam | APC | Benue | |
| 16 | Mohammed Tahir Monguno | APC | Borno | |
| 17 | Kaka Shehu Lawan | APC | Borno | |
| 18 | Jarigbe A. Jarigbe | PDP | Cross River | |
| 19 | William Etemg Jonah | APC | Cross River | |
| 20 | Ekpenyong Asuquo | APC | Cross River | |
| 21 | Dafinone Ede Omueya | APC | Delta | |
| 22 | Nwoko Chinedu Munir | PDP | Delta | |
| 23 | Joel Onowakpo T. Ewomazino | APC | Ebonyi | |
| 24 | Nwebonyi Onyeka Peter | APC | Ebonyi | |
| 25 | Engr. Eze Kenneth Emeka | APC | Ebonyi | |
| 26 | Nweze David Umahi | APC | Ebonyi | |
| 27 | Okpebhold Monday | APC | Edo | |
| 28 | Adams Aliyu Oshomole | APC | Edo | |
| 29 | Imasuen Neda Bernards | LP | Edo | |
| 30 | Fasuyi Cyril Oluwole | APC | Ekiti | |
| 31 | Adaramodu Adeyemi Raphael | APC | Ekiti | |
| 32 | Ngwu Osita | PDP | Enugu | |
| 33 | Ezea Okechukwu | LP | Enugu | |
| 34 | Yaro Anthony Siyako | PDP | Gombe | |
| 35 | Dankwamb Ibrahim Hassan | PDP | Gombe | |
| 36 | Izunaso Osita Bona Venture | APC | Imo | |
| 37 | Ndubueze Patrick Chiwuba | APC | Imo | |
| 38 | Khabeed Mustapha | PDP | Jigawa | |
| 39 | Abdulhamid Mallam Madori | APC | Jigawa | |
| 40 | Hussaini Babagidia Uba | APC | Jigawa | |
| 41 | Khalid Ibrahim Mustapha | PDP | Kaduna | |
| 42 | Lawal Adamu Usman | PDP | Kaduna | |
| 43 | Katung Sunday Marshal | PDP | Kaduna | |
| 44 | Kawu Suleiman Abduraiman | NNPP | Kano | |
| 45 | Nasir Sani Zangon Daura | APC | Kastina | |
| 46 | Dandutse Muntari Mohammed | APC | Kastina | |
| 47 | Abdulaziz Musa Yar’adua | APC | Kastina | |
| 48 | Musa Garba | PDP | Kebbi | |
| 49 | Ohere Sadiku Abubakar | APC | Kogi | |
| 50 | Karimu Sunday Steve | APC | Kogi | |
| 51 | Mustapha Saiju | APC | Kwara | |
| 52 | Sanni Wasiu Eshinlokun | APC | Lagos | |
| 53 | Abiru Muktar Adetokunbo | APC | Lagos | |
| 54 | Adebule Idiat Oluranti | APC | Lagos | |
| 55 | Aliyu Wadada Ahmed | SDP | Nassarawa | |
| 56 | AnawonMohammed Ogoshi | PDP | Nassarawa | |
| 57 | Sani Bello Abubakar | APC | Niger | |
| 58 | Jiya Peter Ndalikali | PDP | Niger | |
| 59 | Sausu Shuaib Afolabi | APC | Ogun | |
| 60 | Daniel Justus Olugbenga | APC | Ogun | |
| 61 | Adeola Solomon Olamilekan | APC | Ogun | |
| 62 | Ipinsagba Emmaneul Olajide | APC | Ondo | |
| 63 | Adegbonmire Adeniyi Ayodele | APC | Ondo | |
| 64 | Jimoh Ibrahim Folorunsho | APC | Ondo | |
| 65 | Fadeyi Oluwole Olubiyi | PDP | Osun | |
| 66 | Oyewumi Kamarudeen Olalere | PDP | Osun | |
| 67 | Akintunde Yunus Abiodun | APC | Oyo | |
| 68 | Buhari Abdulfatai | APC | Oyo | |
| 69 | Aijj Sharafadeen Abiodun | APC | Oyo | |
| 70 | Napoleon Binkap Bali | PDP | Plateau | |
| 71 | Mwadkwon Simon Daudu | PDP | Plateau | |
| 72 | Onyisoh Allwell Heacho | PDP | Rivers | |
| 73 | Banigo Ipalibo Harry | PDP | Rivers | |
| 74 | David S. U. Jimkuta | APC | Taraba | |
| 75 | Manu Haruna | PDP | Taraba | |
| 76 | Isa Shuaibu Lau | PDP | Taraba | |
| 77 | Ibrahim Gaidan | APC | Yobe | |
| 78 | Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan | APC | Yobe | |
| 79 | Yayu Sajari Alhaji | APC | Zamfara | |
| 80 | Abubakar Abdulaziz | APC | Zamfara | |
| 81 | Kingibe Ireti Heebah | LP | FCT |
The Author and the Organization
My name is Rev. Dr. Titus Kolawole Oyeyemi, JP. I am the Founding President
and Chief Executive Officer (FP/CEO) of African Projects/Foundation for Peace
and Love Initiatives (APPLI/AFPLI).
Please feel free to visit these sites to know more about our proactive grassroots
peacebuilding work for ethnoreligious and ethnopolitical harmony in Nigeria,
Africa, and United States:
www.africanprojectsforpeace.org
www.africanfoundationforpeace.org
facebook.com/AFPLINigeria/
You can also contact me using any of the following email addresses:
Titusoye71@gmail.com
applinig@yahoo.com
appli_nig@africanprojectsforpeace.org
admin@african.com/africanprojecttsforpeace.org
Telephone: +234 803 807 1447; 1-708-969-1109
Peace. Shalom. KAYERO! KAYEROJU!! MAY PEACE PEEVAIL ON EARTH!!!
Rev. Dr. Titus Kolawole Oyeyemi, JP
Founding President and CEO
African Projects/Foundation for Peace and Love Initiatives
USA: 17195 Apple Tree Drive, Country Club Hills, IL 60478, USA.
NIGERIA: KAYERO KAYEROJU HOUSE, 326 Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway,
Cele/Super Bus Stop, Abule-Egba, Lagos State, Nigeria.
NIGERIA: KAIROS HOUSE, 12 Remoye Street, Micom Bus Stop, Egbeda,
Akowonjo, Lagos State, Nigeria.
Conclusion
We love Africa; we seek her future peace
Tribes and tongues may differ but we are the same
With peace and love Africa will be great
We love Africa, the future land of peace
Let us put violence to shame
Let us put violence to shame
There must be peace in Nigeria
There must be peace in Africa
There must be peace all over the world
Let us put violence to shame.