"Democracy cannot exist in a situation where there is no system of orderly succession from one regime to another. If every election is an occasion for violence and crisis, there is no possibility of democracy." – Chinua Achebe
Dec. 11, 2009, Westin Hotel, Providence, Rhode Island
Nigeria is preparing for another election cycle, which will begin in Feb. 2010 with state government elections in Anambra, a state in the southeast of the country. Anambra sparked the most violent and protracted scenes of ballot rigging and resistance in 2007, and the conduct of elections there in 2010 will represent a test case for national elections that will follow in the rest of the country.
The Anambra elections will provide the first signs of how orderly or disruptive the conduct of nationwide elections in other parts of the country will be. There are indications that the problems that bedeviled elections in the country in 2007 are still present in Anambra. Already, violence has been reported as the various political actors jostle for control of the state in 2010. The signs are ominous.
In view of the importance of these events to regional stability in Africa, Professor Chinua Achebe, the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and professor of Africana studies at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island - under the auspices of the Achebe Colloquium at Brown -is convening an International conference on Nigerian Elections, to discuss and place an international spotlight on the forthcoming elections in Anambra State in 2010 and in the rest of Nigerian in 2011. The conference will be held on December 11, 2009, at the Westin Hotel, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
Conference themes will include problems, prospects and pathologies of 50 years of Nigerian independence; strategic interests of Nigeria and the United States; challenges of the Anambra Elections in 2010; lessons learned and problems ahead in monitoring Nigerian elections; strategies for free and fair polls in the 2010 elections and beyond.
The Achebe Colloquium will bring together officials from the Nigerian government, the United Nations, the European Union, members of Nigerian civil society, international human rights organizations, election-monitoring groups, and research and policy institutions to deliberate on the importance of credible polls in sustaining Nigeria’s fragile democracy.
A partial list of participants include the following distinguished individuals:
Joseph Duffey Former USIA Director, Washington DC
John Stremlau Vice President, Peace Programs. The Carter Center.
John Campbell Former US Ambassador to Nigeria
Ambassador Walter Carrington former US ambassador to Nigeria
Princeton N. Lyman, Former US Ambassador to Nigeria and South Africa;
Richard Dowden - Executive Director, Royal Africa Society London
Herman J. Cohen former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
John Della Volpe - Harvard Univesity
Robert I. Rotberg - Harvard University and President, World Peace Foundation.
Professor Richard Joseph - Northwestern University
Professor Darren Kew - Umass, Boston
Professor Chinua Achebe, Convener and David and Marianna Fisher University Professor, Brown University
Professor Jean Herskovits - SUNY Purchase
Johnetta B. Cole Smithsonian
Dr. Werner Puschra, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Eric Guttschuss, Nigeria Researcher (Human Rights Watch)
Dr Kwandwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman - The Electoral Commission of Ghana, West Africa
Abubakar Umar, former governor of Kaduna State
Femi Falana civil rights lawyer
Hon. Oladimeji Bankole - Speaker of the House of representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Governor Peter Obi – Executive Governor of Anambra State
Senator Ken Nnamani
Former Governor Chris Ngige
Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu
Chief Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu
Senator Ben Obi
Prof. T. Uzodinma Nwala
Mr Innocent Chukwuma CLEEN foundation
Professor Okey Ndibe
Sowore Omoyele
Other expected invited guests include: professor Charles Soludo, gubernatorial candidate PDP, Chief Alex Ekwueme, Professor Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate, Dr. Rachel Gisselquist -Harvard University, Governors of Imo, Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu States. Also expected are experts from the United Nations, numerous human rights, pro-democracy groups, the Carter Center, European Union, Nigerian intellectuals at home and abroad; and experts from the Caribbean, Canada and Australia.
For more information visit the colloquium website: http://www.brown.edu/web/achebecolloquium/background/index.html
All conference attendees will be expected to register (please see website above) without exception.
Chidi Chike Achebe MD, MPH, MBA
Achebe International Colloquium Organizing committ
ee
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