By Omoniyi salaudeen
The 2023 general elections have come and gone. But the echoes of the widespread violence that characterized the conduct of the poll still remain a clear and present danger. Already, there is a general apprehension that the arms that have gone into the hands of the hired political thugs engaged by the political class to carry out suppression and intimidation of voters might crystallize into another big security challenge in the near future if nothing is done to mop up these arms.
More worrisome is the fact that electoral violence has assumed a national dimension. As of today, there is hardly any section of the country that is immune from the trend of politically motivated killings, arson, and outright intimidation of political opponents and their supporters. Although there are no official statistics for the number of victims of violence witnessed during the conduct of the just concluded general elections, the incidence of extra-judicial killings reported by the media is staggering. While the report agreed that February 25 presidential and National Assembly was peaceful, the March 18 governorship and state assembly elections recorded many casualties as a result of voter suppression, ballot snatching, and direct intimidation of voters that characterized the conduct of the polls.
The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM), in its report, put the figure of fatalities recorded on Election Day at 21. The report reads in part: “Obstruction and organised violence limited the free expression of the will of the voters, despite efforts by civil society to promote democratic standards.
“The 25 February post-election environment was largely peaceful, with parties appealing to supporters for calm. However, a few days before the 18 March elections, violence abruptly increased with more than a dozen attacks and abductions of candidates by thugs and unidentified gunmen, some of which resulted in fatalities. Violence shortly before and on election day appeared to strategically suppress voter participation.
“Overall, on election day, multiple incidents of thuggery and intimidation interrupted polling in various locations, primarily across the South, but also in states in the central and northern areas. There were reportedly some 21 fatalities. In polling units in several states, violent incidents targeted voters, INEC personnel, citizen observers, and journalists.”
Now that the elections have been concluded, the general concern is how to mop up the arms that have found their way into the hands of hired political thugs before the looming security crisis becomes another big monster that will be chasing the Nigerian state.
A security expert, Mr Jackson Olalekan-Ojo, while expressing concern over the ugly trend of election violence in a telephone discourse with Sunday Sun, predicted, at least, a 20 per cent increase in crime and criminality rate in the country following the conclusion of the polls.
“The incidence of violence Nigeria has just witnessed during the conduct of these elections has increased the level of crime and criminality by another 20 per cent across the country,” he said.
Explaining the glooming security forecast, he argued that “there is no way you can send a thug out to go and fight or carry ballot boxes without giving them small arms or sophisticated arms in case of any resistance. As they are going, they will anticipate resistance which they will be ready to deal with.
“The sad thing is that those who are arming them do not know the family background of these thugs to be able to monitor them and withdraw the arms from them after the elections.
“This implies that these people can commit crimes and bolt away. For example, some of those present in Lagos might be residents of Ogun State. So, what these politicians have just done is to further criminalise the system. At the end of the day, these small arms and sophisticated weapons which have been used to empower these thugs in the wrong way will become a big problem to the extent that the government may not be able to contain them so easily.
“Like a former military administrator of Kaduna State during the military regime of the late head of state, Gen Sani Abacha, Col Umaru said: ‘Those who ride on the back of a lion to get to power may end up being in the belly of the lion.’ “What I am saying is that those who recruited these thugs may end up being the victims of these criminals.
“Nobody will kidnap the poor for ransom; it is those people that are rich in the society that will ultimately become their victims. In other words, the effect of what they have done will bounce back on them (politicians) at the end of the day.”
One time Lagos State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Captain Tunji Shelle (rtd), also speaking in the same vein, urged the government to rise up to its responsibility and ensure that all arms in possession of political thugs are immediately mopped up.
He said: “I wouldn’t know the number of arms that have gone into anybody’s hand. That responsibility belongs to the intelligence corps. If the government doesn’t know them, then it is bad. If they are aware that people are keeping arms, let them do the needful. Let them fish them out and flush them out. That is the responsibility of the government.
“Safety of lives and property is the number one priority on the list of government’s functions. The government should know what to do to arrest the situation. They should have enough intelligence in their hands to be able to deal with the situation. They are in a position to know the people who are carrying arms and ammunition. And, of course, they have enough manpower and weapons to deal with the situation if in case any security challenge arises. They are supposed to know where the enemies are hiding and their strength. Their strength cannot be more than that of the Nigerian army. That is the situation in which we have found ourselves.”
In an in-depth analysis of the situation, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, a former BoT member of the (PDP), linked the rising trend of political thuggery that characterized the conduct of the elections to youth unemployment. Speaking in a telephone chat with Sunday Sun, he said that “sometimes, the primary motive of the people engaging in thuggery could be to get money. But I don’t think we can attribute the situation we find ourselves in entirely to funding. The issue is that the youths are agitated. There are no jobs for them to do. As they say, the devil is a tool in the hands of a jobless person. What we have now is resentment against the ills of society leading to a heightened tendency to revolt.
“When I came into politics some 40 years ago, the violence we experienced then was a mere display of rascality generated by political pranks like singsongs, parables, proverbs, abuses, and making jest of one another. And it was not as bad as it is now that everybody has a gun. It is a general attitude that needs to be curbed.:
He also identified incisive preaching by religious leaders as a major factor fueling election violence in the country.
According to him, unless drastic measures are taken to change the divisive attitude of politicians, as well as religious leaders, Nigeria might be in for a serious security challenge.
To be able to effectively mop up the arms that are already in circulation in hidden places, he suggested the enactment of a law that would permit everybody to carry gun, though he admitted that it would be a tough option.
His words: “The big politicians and religious leaders are causing some of these incitements. There is war song everywhere, and religious bigotry is also heightening, which also increases the general tendency for people to react violently. Society is polluted and divided. That, for me, is the cause of the violence we witnessed during the elections. If it is for a pecuniary reason, this is the time for them to sit down because nobody is giving them (youths) money because of this cash crunch.
“The question again is: How did these small arms get into the hands of political thugs? It is for no other reason other than the weakness on the part of the government. Have we adopted any preventive measures to curb the way these arms come in? Once they come, in what way have we been able to withdraw them? The truth is that the willingness, as well as the capacity to do these, is not there. So, we are already in a mess. And unless drastic measures are taken, and which, of course, can be taken by a drastic leader, we may be facing another serious security challenge.
“Maybe the solution will be to make laws that will allow everybody to carry guns and train them. That way, those arms that are hidden will be brought out. Once you make it official, register them, and train them, there will be no more intimidation of one another. But that is an extreme option.
“What we are witnessing now is not just a danger, it is catastrophic and disastrous. If measures are not taken to mop the arms in the hands of political thugs, there may be an escalation of violence in the country. This may be further accentuated by the fact that we are no longer preaching peace. In a very divisive way, we are preaching violence.”