Gboyega Alaka highlights some of the incidents of violence that characterised last week’s presidential elections
It might have been a cartoon, but it tells a whole lot of story about the futility of electoral violence, the wickedness of the perpetrators and the foolishness of those who willingly make themselves tools in the hands of the politicians.
The cartoon published in The Nation a day after last week’s presidential election shows an agitated aged mother screaming at her bare-chested, machete-wielding, hemp-smoking thug of a son, who obviously is on his way out and ready for the KILL.
“Son, they nicknamed you ‘Death Warrant’ and you are happy, ehn?… where are your party leaders’ children?”
Of course. He has no answer, as the mother’s punchy question seems to hit him hard.
But a rambunctious fowl in the yard provides the thought-provoking answer: “…Safely in Europe and America, of course!”
Without doubt, the message here should not be lost on all the young men and women, including the irresponsible adults, who turn themselves into political thugs during election seasons and fight, maim, kill and vandalise properties, all in the name of fighting for perpetrating evil for their principals, the politicians. Except if they want to pretend.
In most cases, children and relatives of these desperate politicians, are in some fancy schools, undergoing the best of training, and preparing for prosperous careers or immediate take-over of political offices and appointments, just in case their parents have decided to step down.
Even when they are not in schools, the politicians never forget to herd their children safely into exile; just so that whatever violence that might erupt due to their actions and campaigns, never get to them.
The cartoon thus exposes the folly in all those who make themselves willing tools for violence on behalf of politicians, who are not even ready to have the slightest danger whistle past their own children.
In the same vein, another gentleman recently made a very instructive call into a television talk-show programme centred on election violence, right on the eve of the election. Paraphrasing him, he said: the politicians and political class are one and the same. Anyone who chooses to lose an arm or leg or die for them dies in vane, for their differences only lies in their immediate interests and nothing deeper. To make his message more profound, he cited the recent cross-carpeting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the newly formed opposition the All Progressives Congress (APC), which saw a massive movement of some major PDP bigwigs into the APC. More instructive was his question that: Who would have imagined an Olagunsoye Oyinlola and an Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and a Rafiu Aregbesola in the same party and in warm embraces?
He also asked, who would have expected that a Segun Oni (former governor of Ekiti State0 and a Kayode Fayemi (who unseated him by court judgment barely four years ago, in the same boat, with both of them paddling towards the same destination, without rancour?
Today, Segun Oni is even the deputy national chairman of the APC for South-West Nigeria. At the last count, Olagunsoye Oyinlola was also seen
Despite calls and warnings, by spirited Nigerians and friends from the international community for a peaceful electoral process, desperate politicians, community party leaders and gullible youths still went on rampage, inflicting terror, assaulting, maiming and even killing, all in a bid to disrupt orderly election processes, foster mayhem and manipulate election outcomes.
Just this Wednesday, as much as four days after the presidential election, a group of thugs in Ekiti, apparently still smarting from the defeat of the PDP went on rampage, attacking the state secretariat and smashing screens of about five vehicles, amongst them a Honda saloon and a Mercedes Benz C240. The thugs were said to have arrived in three Hilux cars and immediately launched unprovoked attacks, destroying flags and banners of the opposition. One of the smashed cars was also said to belong to the APC Publicity secretary in the state, Taiwo Olatunbosun.
Thankfully, no death was recorded.
In Bauchi, a bloodied corpse of a man was caught on camera being stretchered out while a watched in agony. The man was reportedly shot by a soldier Sunday morning at the state INEC Secretariat after he and a group of the locals attempted to fend off soldiers who were trying to gain entry into the INEC office while counting was still going on.
Another man was said to have been hit by a stray bullet and rushed to a hospital under a very dire condition.
The residents had kept vigil outside the electoral commission’s office, patiently awaiting the result, when the military showed up and parked the violence.
Rivers State by far recorded the highest incidences of election malpractice and violence, as scores were said to have been killed. Even before the election proper, the state had always borne the tag of battle-ground, but no one envisaged the level of impunity and violence that finally ensued. It will be recalled that it was in the state that the first semblance of violence in the whole electoral campaign erupted, when some thugs suspected to be of the PDP affiliation shot at APC members on their way to the party’s campaign flag-off venue in the state. This was followed by pockets of other occurrences, until the stalemated APC campaign in Okrika, the home-town of the first lady, where ceaseless sporadic gunshots halted the exercise.
On Election Day proper, one of the dead, an APC member in Ward 3, Unit 2, Ogale-Eleme, was allegedly killed by a soldier attached to a prominent leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Eleme, Eleme Local Government Area.
At Opobo/Nkoro, the Local Government Area of Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, the gubernatorial candidate of APC, the house of Opobo/Nkoro Caretaker Committee Chairman, Loveday Jaja, was torched after he escaped to avoid being killed by the PDP hoodlums. Electoral materials meant for the Local Government Area have been diverted to John Africa/Ada Tom Pepple Compound area where they are thumb-printing in favour of PDP. Another person Alafagha Oko-Jaja had his head broken head and he is seriously bleeding. No one is sure if he will survive.
The police also said two car bombs exploded at polling stations in Enugu, although no one was injured, as the police immediately took charge of the situation. This was aside other incidents of violence, in Anambra state, some of which resulted in death of policemen and civilians. (See box)
In Ikere Ekiti, an All Progressives Congress (APC) member Jide Owolabi was allegedly shot by security aides attached to the Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Dr. Kolapo Olusola. The incident occurred at Ereja Polling Unit in Odo-Oja quarter of the town when Olusola, who was said to be moving around in a convoy, was stopped by APC members who accused him of violating the electoral law.
On the eve of the election, a member of the House of Representatives, Oyetunde Ojo, escaped being killed by hooded gunmen who laid siege to his hometown, Erijiyan-Ekiti in Ekiti West Local Government Area.
The gunmen, according to him, arrived the community at 9.30 pm on Friday and unleashed terror till about 1.00 am on Saturday.
Ojo, who is son-in-law to the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, said the unknown persons pointed to his house after which serious shootings started.
The federal lawmaker representing Ekiti Central Federal Constituency 2 who is seeking re-election revealed that six houses were attacked in the community while many vehicles were damaged.
Among the houses destroyed was that of the state APC Chairman, Chief Olajide Awe and that of Ojo’s mother.
He said the Police came after the assailants had left which necessitated his request for special security cover.
Speaking on the conduct of the polls, Ojo said the election was peaceful and the reports received from other communities in the constituency showed that the process was hitch-free.
In Gombe, the story was even worse. Suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked would-be voters, killing ten people in the process, one of them, a serving member of the state House of Assembly and a policeman. Even the governor of the state, Danjuma Goje was said to be a target in a plan orchestrated to foment trouble and scuttle the process.
According to eye-witnesses, the insurgents were overheard shouting “Didn’t we warn you about staying away from the election?” even as they pulled the triggers.
Although the atmosphere was tense, Lagos however recorded low violence, with one unconfirmed report of death somewhere in Oworonshoki area of the state. The state had however witnessed its fair share violent incidents in days leading to the election, with February being the most bloody. Three people were said to have been killed in separate incidents in Ajegunle and Lagos Island in the first week of February. The Ajegunle incident took place in Amukoko, claiming one life, simply identified as Raimi, while the Lagos Island incident perpetrated by a cult group, Campos Boys claimed the life of Ahmed Igbagbo and an unidentified man, after argument ensued over political issues. An eye witness said 12 other people were also injured in that Lagos Island fracas.
A week later, another ugly fracas erupted in Jakande area of Lekki, leaving one dead and several others injured, when supporters of the PDP and APC clashed during one of the campaign rallies.
Pockets of incidents of gunshots, ballot box snatching were also recorded in Ilaje-ese Odo in Ondo, Sagamu in Ogun State and other places.
Additional report by Odunayo Ogunmola in Ekiti.
