Peace by Peaceful Means? A Post-Hoc Analysis of the ‘Abuja Peace Accord’ on Election Violence Prevention in Nigeria

Abstract

The signing on Wednesday, 14 January, 2015 of the celebrated Abuja Peace Accord by the presidential candidates of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and eleven others, including the major opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC) signaled for the first time a conscious effort by Nigerian political gladiators to give peace a chance. Although unique in the sense that two retired foremost international diplomats were deeply involved in drafting and moderating the signing of the Peace Accord, a critical-analytical dissection of the spirit and content as well as the practical benefits and weaknesses of the agreement reveal a thin success in a post-hoc mode. This paper teases out the forces and factors that were responsible for the semi-success and semi-failure of the stated goals of the Accord.