I resolved many weeks ago to refrain from commenting on election matters for personal reasons. But for those miserable weeks, I also struggled continually with my conscience.
However, I wish to state that this article was not inspired only by my conscience; I am troubled also by the verdict of posterity.
What kind of country are we building? Are we proud of our institutions? And above all, our youths, are we satisfied with their conduct particularly during elections?
Politics is superior to economics essentially because elections outcome determine to a very large extent, our level of development. This is so because the quality of governance depends largely on leaders who emerge after elections.
In Rivers State, some of us are worried by the processes that eventually led to elections outcome that we now live with. We are therefore concerned, not just about our grimy political past, but also about our future. To keep quiet, obviously will amount to endorsing a process that many both within and outside the state have acknowledged as flawed.
The violence and carnage that characterised election in Rivers State were predicted many months before the polls by international and local observers, civil societies, some political parties, government agencies, religious groups and even the media. The violence and killing were in many ways, a disaster foretold. There was already a correlation between political violence during the campaigns and also during the actual elections. To my surprise, the pointers to massive violence that eventually characterised the elections in Rivers were there, yet they were ignored.
Sadly, the brutality and bloodshed was not only widespread but also executed with unmatched impunity and viciousness by well known politicians and security agents across the services.
From Abua-Odual, Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni, Eleme, Ahoada East and West to Akuku-Toru, Asari-Toru, Andoni, Bonny, Emohua, Etche, Ikwere, Khana, Gokana, Obio-Akpor, Tai, Okrika and other local governments, the stories were similar: barefaced intimidation, molestation, endless threats, arson and deaths.
I am in agreement with many observers who are of the view that the unprecedented violence of April 11 governorship election would have been nipped in the bud if there had been sanctions for the brazen impunity and violence witnessed during the presidential and National Assembly elections which held earlier. Where there are no consequences for infractions, impunity, violence and crime, lawlessness thrive and that was what we witnessed.
But the battle for the soul of Rivers was fiercest in Okrika, home town of Mrs Patience Jonathan, Nigeria’s former First Lady. Many had argued that all the atrocities and impunity that took place in Okrika and Ogu-Bolu in particular and the entire Rivers State in general, from campaign to election proper, had official endorsement and perhaps took firm roots in the two LGA’s. Those who doubted or thought differently, with the fullness of time, have now come to fully appreciate the unseen evil hands at work.
The tragedy of Okrika began with the high drama that played out before the entire country during APC’s rally in there which culminated in the attack on journalists and APC supporters, and death of a police man. In fact, Okrika was a basket case, coupled with the influx of arms, thugs and mercenaries who personally chased away voters and took electoral materials in all the wards. The fatalities of Okrika received national condemnation but not national response to punish those who were actors in the incident.
By far the most worrisome was the complicity of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the violence before, during and after the elections. In fact, the PDP maintained a larger than life presence as the party was fingered in all the ignoble activities in virtually all the troubled spots in the state. There were open intimidation, threats and name-dropping of very high politicians and government officials by the hoodlums
For example, in Andoni Local Government Area, there were countless instances of violent activities believed to have been propelled by agents of government. Eye witnesses said that on the eve of the April election, shooting lasted for several hours in Ekede, Isiodum, Dema, Ajakajak and Ikuru town. It was however later gathered that the gun shots were fired by political thugs and security men attached to VIPs. This dimension of electoral violence in Rivers State is significant because it revealed how highly placed government officials perpetrated and coordinated violence.
As it turned out, this scary pattern of persistent shooting was not limited to Andoni and its environs. In fact, gun men were unrelenting in other local governments like Asari-Toru, Akuku-Toru, Khana, Gokana, Okrika, Abua-Odual, Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni, Eleme, Obio-Akpor, Tai, Ogu-Bolo, and even the hitherto peaceful Opobo-Nkoro. Their aim apparently, was to attack those courageous enough to challenge them and also scare voters. The operational template of unleashing violence and intimidating the people was essentially the same across the communities and LGA’s.
Aside human targets, properties were also targeted during the presidential and governorship elections. However, the attacks came to a climax during the April governorship election. In Asari-Toru local government area alone, over eight major cases of arson were recorded. It began with the bombing of the RAC Centre which caused total destruction of both sensitive and non-sensitive electoral materials.
As if that was not enough, four INEC delivery vans were also burnt. The height of the destruction however, was the separate attacks on the houses of two prominent APC members in the local government: Mrs. Joeba West, Commissioner for Women Affairs in the Amaechi-led government and Dr. Dawari George, a former member of the House of Representatives. Earlier on, APC offices in Okrika, Bonny and Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni local government areas had been bombed.
One similar thread that runs deep through all the incidents of violent attacks across the length and breadth of the entire Rivers State is hijack of electoral materials. This desperation obviously gives the impression that certain persons where either opposed or not prepared for a fair contest from start. Unfortunately, the police did not help matters as they watched while terror was visited on the people.
I wish to state here that prior to the election, everybody who felt excluded repeatedly pointed accusing fingers at the direction of the PDP, a fear that necessitated the countless meetings and joint statements by other aggrieved political parties who complained endlessly about the unfair advantage of the then ruling party.
But we must stop groaning at some point and seek solutions.
No country becomes prosperous without a solid foundation. Nigeria, therefore must look inwards because she is neither lacking in insightful report documents or the right calibre of individuals that can make a difference. As a people, we can actually begin this self-examination by revisiting for instance, the Justice Uwais National Electoral Reform Committee report, amending the Electoral Act and energizing our electoral legal framework to avoid the revelations in Rivers and Akwa States where results were written in private homes.
All said, one terrifying truth that will haunt our people as we come to terms with reality is the fact that we have lost a good opportunity to show our true selves. For many years now, the entire country has associated us with violence and death but I know we are definitely a misunderstood people. This unfortunate profiling, clearly is a fallout of immoral actions of some desperate politicians in our dear state but we have a duty to redeem our image.
Political struggle is not only a contest; it is also a competition among prepared and capable contenders. Can we, in all sincerity, say in the midst of all the violence and death that characterised the elections, that our State’s representatives at all levels of leadership are truly our choices? Can we also say confidently, irrespective of party affiliation, that our representatives are all products of our collective decision via the ballot box? As a people, I think we must think deeply through this calamity and pray that never again would we allow impunity thrive on our land.
And for our country, there are wider implications for the Nigerian nation state. If the nightmare that took place in Rivers State is left unaddressed, then we will all be guilty of setting a dangerous precedence. Heart-warming however, is the repeated promise by President Muhammadu Buhari that the electoral violence in Rivers State will be definitely addressed. But beyond the painful fact that the electorates were denied their inalienable right to vote for their preferred candidate, there is the growing belief that crime pays, even under the guise of political contestation.
•Princewill, a public commentator, lives in Port Harcourt
