Five books for peace in this season of Lent

The governorship elections have come and gone and all we can do now is keep our fingers crossed, pray and conduct ourselves in a peaceful manner.  It is instructive that we went into the elections a couple of days after Ash Wednesday and smack at the beginning of lent. That season where we are reminded […]

The governorship elections have come and gone and all we can do now is keep our fingers crossed, pray and conduct ourselves in a peaceful manner.  It is instructive that we went into the elections a couple of days after Ash Wednesday and smack at the beginning of lent. That season where we are reminded to be sober, to be peaceful to be prayerful and to be charitable.

That season where we are urged to fast and wear sack cloth and be sorry for our sins, to reflect and to banish our bad habits. Takers anyone? Political thuggery? Murder? Manipulation? Win at all cost? Do we understand the symbolism of this election taking place a couple of days after ash Wednesday when we Catholics go to get ash on our heads to remind us that from dust we came and to dust we shall return?

It is ahead of this season and about a week to this election that I joined the team of the Professor Gambari led Savannah centre, where I am a member of the board of directors and member of the council of the wise under the distinguished chairmanship of Honourable Justice Uwais, to travel to two flash point states of Ogun and Imo to preach violent free elections. Clearly there was palpable unease but we met with some critical stakeholders, politicians across party lines and the women and youth leaders.  Youths and stakeholders were encouraged to handle social media with more responsibility and the media were admonished to use their platform in a more unifying way rather than use it to escalate hate speech and fan the embers of violence.

It was indeed humbling work to remind people that your state should never become a battleground or a place for bloodletting because of an election. They were all reminded that no one’s life is worth a democratic process expected to be a place where people should be allowed to make their heartfelt, honest choice. Other eminent board members on this tour were Nigeria’s former ambassador to Washington, Cyprus and Israel, Professor George Obiozor, former DG Nigerian Institute of peace and conflict resolution, Professor Oshita, and Executive Director of Savannah centre and former Nigerian Ambassador to Chad, Ambassador Omaki.

We had earlier covered Rivers, Kaduna and Kano where we met traditional rulers, political stakeholders, women and youth. Work done, we sit now and pray that stakeholders heed the call for peace in the aftermath of the elections. That they recognise that in this sober season of lent, peace is paramount and there is no democracy without peace and no peace without fair, credible and peaceful elections. There is too much going on, let’s take the path of peace as we wait for the results in this symbolic season of lent.

Here then are five books for peace as we await the results and remind ourselves that Lent is a season for brotherhood, charity, sober reflection, and peaceful co-existence among other things.

1. A choice for peace? The story of 41 days of mediation in Kenya. This book published by the International peace institute is written by Elizabeth Lindermayer and Josie Liama Kaye. It gives a detailed narrative account of the efforts to mediate the deadly post- election dispute in Kenya in early 2008. A book that is relevant for all times shows the mediation efforts of a concerted group of stakeholders led by the late UN Secretary General, Koffi Annan, to include donors, scholars’ policy makers, policy analyst, politicians and neighbours.

2. The book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a changing world by the Nobel peace laureates, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Published in 2016, it discusses the challenges of living a joyful life. One commentator noted that both authors have faced oppression and exile and both of them have been able to maintain their forgiveness and compassion. An amazing book.

3. 40 days of decrease, a different kind of hunger, a different kind of fast.  This book offers a daily devotion, through readings, reflections, actions and quotes. It offers every day for forty days a meaningful consideration of Jesus’s journey. The journey of empathy, selflessness, and compassion. Fasting from the heart offers us an opportunity to fast from heart clutter to remove those things that stick to our souls and weigh it down. This book shows us how to thin ourselves in order to thicken our communion with God. It encourages us to fast from not just food but lies, deceit, hatred and cheating among other vices. It concludes that decrease is holy when its destination is love. A powerful guide book for deeper spirituality this Lenten season.

4. The next two are books for children because it is clear to me that a lot of the challenges we have in our electoral space today started in the management of our young people whose heads have been filled with hate by some parents who are not doing the needful on preaching peace or who tell them something different from what they practice. Some of them have become the monsters we see in our electoral violence. Integrity and peaceful co-existence is critical in parenting. We owe it to our children and to our nation. Howard Wiggle bottom learns about sportsmanship is a children’s book by author Howard Binkow. The character Howard Wiggle bottom learns that winning is not everything in this interesting book for children. Some parents push their children to win at all cost irrespective of the damage both to them and their friends. A great book for teaching children and adults alike. In the aftermath of the governorship elections let all candidates practice political sportsmanship. This, my dear brothers and sisters is the door to political brinksmanship, national unity and peace.

5. Sally Sore loser is an interesting book written by Frank Sileo for children. It is about a little girl called Sally who must be first in everything, first to go through the door and first to raise up her hand in class and then throws a tantrum when she is not first. She does not like losing. So her classmates nicknamed her Sally sore loser. She is forced to learn the rules of winning and losing. Let us teach our children how to manage both, for as long as you are a human being, you will taste both sides of the coin.