Last Tuesday was a particularly bad day for the Rivers State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the now rescheduled April 11 gubernatorial election Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside. As you all know, he almost lost his life while campaigning in Okrika, the home town of our First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.
Those who watched the event live on Channels Television were shocked as unknown gunmen rained bullets on Peterside and his team as he mounted the podium to address thousands of Mrs. Jonathan’s kinsmen/women who had gathered enthusiastically to listen to the man who could be the next governor of their state.
As the reign of terror continued, there was pandemonium everywhere. Those who could ran as far as their legs could take them while many more took cover to avoid being hit. By the time the gunmen were done, a police corporal, Ifeanyi Okorie, 33, was killed while no fewer than 50 others, including the Channels television reporter Charles Eruka were injured.
The Okrika mayhem was the height of the series of violence that had characterized electioneering campaigns in Rivers State since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) signaled the beginning of this general elections cycle. The violence had been targeted at the APC campaigns and fingers, rightly or wrongly, are being pointed at the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
To be sincere, the violence was not unexpected judging by the intense rivalry between the ruling APC in the State and the opposition PDP. But the scale was unexpected. No one would have thought that guns and other firearms would be used to disrupt campaign rallies, to the extent of even threatening the life of the governorship candidate of a major party.
Whoever was behind the attack did mean well for Rivers State. If any harm had been done to Peterside that day, where would Rivers State and indeed Nigeria be today? What would have become of our democracy?
In the run up to that disrupted APC campaign, explosions had gone off earlier in the day near the campaign ground, destroying public properties. Even before last Tuesday, APC offices had been similarly bombed in different parts of the state by unknown people. Nobody has yet been brought to book for these.
Peterside taking his campaign to Okrika was an act of bravery as Mrs. Jonathan and her supporters including former warlord Ateke Toms had reportedly vowed never to allow him campaign in their backyard. But for a man who intends to govern the whole of Rivers State, no part of the state is or should be a no go area.
The Okrika attack should be a source of concern to President Goodluck Jonathan not just because a repeat of such could derail this democracy, but most importantly, the attack took place in his wife’s community. Mrs. Jonathan is noted for picking quarrel with anybody who dared to stand in her way. And her husband has never for once called her to order.
At the height of the criminality unleashed on the Niger Delta by a section of the then Niger Delta militants, Okrika waterfront served as the hideout for the criminals terrorizing Port Harcourt and environs, and when Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi attempted to clean up the area, Mrs. Jonathan resisted claiming to be fighting her peoples cause. Hmmmm.
And now to allow APC campaign in her backyard, we are told is something she doesn’t want to hear. Well, Madam must hear this. The people of Okrika, just like every other community in Rivers State deserve to see and hear from all the candidates jostling to become the next governor of the state. It doesn’t matter which party; it is their right. They should have enough information to assess all the candidates before making their choice on the day of election.
This kind of attack doesn’t present the president, his wife and the PDP well before the public. If such was going to happen anywhere at all it should not be in Okrika because nobody would believe it if they deny knowledge of it. But should such even happen anywhere at all?
We have been told several times that the president is a good person but surrounded by bad people. But I ask, why must a good person surround himself with bad people? It is either of two things; the person is bad but pretending to be good, or is incapable of identifying and picking good people as aides. And if you find yourself surrounded by bad people accidentally, why is it difficult to dispense with their services?
How the president deals with the Okrika attack would go a long way to show whether he truly believes in giving Nigeria a free, fair and credible elections. You might want to ask what has Jonathan got to do with it after all it is the business of the security agencies . A lot. If the president is determined to provide a level playing field for everybody, then he should go ahead today and give a firm instruction to the Inspector General of Police to fish out those behind the Okrika attack and their sponsors and punish them accordingly. That is what a commander -in -chief should do.
The danger here if the perpetrators were not fished out and punished is that others might be encouraged to try out a similar thing as we move towards the general election. And if such became the order of the day then this democracy would be in serious trouble.
Fayose’s death wish for Buhari
Part of the problem with President Jonathan is his penchant for surrounding himself with bad people (as stated above) like Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State. Repeatedly the governor has been speaking on the health of the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate General Muhammadu Buhari , saying the former Head of State is not healthy enough to assume Nigeria’s presidency and would probably die in office if elected.
Jonathan has not distanced himself from Fayose over this nor has he called him to order, suggesting that he tacitly support the erratic governor. When key supporters of Jonathan talks like this and the president keeps quiet, it says a lot about him and this is disturbing even to some of his genuine supporters. Comments like this from people like Fayose would further alienate Jonathan from right thinking Nigerians. If the president had called the governor to order even in private, he would not go about repeating this death wish for Buhari.
Death is a necessary end for everybody and it will come when it will. But to wish Buhari to die now as Fayose is doing is to wish Nigeria bad. God forbid, if anything happens to the APC candidate now, Nigeria could be plunged into a crisis the outcome of which nobody can predict.
