APC and imminent campaign bloodbath

IN recent viral videos, political thugs, believed to belong to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), were seen and heard stopping opposition elements from holding open-field meetings in some parts of the country, noticeably in the South-South region. In one of them, political thugs were seen destroying the public address system, chairs and canopies set up by ADC, a rival political party in the Bakassi area of Cross River State. They didn’t only damage the broadcast equipment and other items meant for the meeting, they chased the organisers away with dangerous weapons while boasting loudly on camera that APC is the only political party permitted to hold open and public activities (likely including rallies, campaigns and open-air meetings) in the area. They kept shouting that aside APC, which is the only party known to them (the thugs and their sponsors), no opposition group or party is or would be allowed to make any appearance. Of course, the organisers bolted. They have learnt to fight to run, to live to fight another day. The state is ruled by the ruling party.

On March 21, Saturday Punch newspaper reported a similar scenario in neighbouring Rivers.

The report read in part, “There was tension in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State on Thursday when suspected political thugs disrupted a rally of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

“Saturday Punch gathered that the event, scheduled outside the Alesa Town Hall in Eleme, was about to commence with canopies and chairs arranged, and participants ready when the assailants struck.

“The rally, organised under the auspices of the ADC Young Women Forum, was interrupted when the invaders, claiming to be local security personnel, stormed the venue. They alleged that the local government chairman had not been officially notified and that the programme lacked proper approval.

“Our correspondent learnt that banners erected for the event were removed and attendees were ordered to vacate the area, abruptly halting the rally.

“The assailants reportedly instructed the organisers to secure official approval before holding any future events in the community.

“The incident comes just two weeks after a convoy of former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, was attacked in Ikwerre Local Government on his way to flag off the e-registration for ADC membership. A day before that attack, the ADC secretariat in Ubima, Amaechi’s hometown, was set ablaze by thugs. Eyewitnesses at Thursday’s disruption said the assailants claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had not authorised political campaign activities.

“The recent attacks have heightened concerns over potential disruptions to opposition party activities in Rivers State as the political landscape heats up ahead of the 2027 elections.”

In the slew of expected reactions to the incident, including that of Rivers’ police, which very conveniently was “unaware” of the violence, one missing piece was the position of the authorities in the local government. Since the report didn’t say they declined responding, it would be taken the reporter didn’t contact the leadership of Eleme LGA. But the council authority could still clear the air on the “power of permit”, arrogated to it by the thugs. Until then, it should be taken that the thugs, the constitutional illiterates they certainly are and the all brawn, little or no brain they should be, to be the ones running such ugly errands possibly for a pay packet that would not buy a shot of the cheapest wine in the leader’s cellar, were not speaking for the council. Even the police that tried to appropriate the power to regulate a fundamental right guaranteed by the “fons et origo” (the Constitution) have been caged by superior courts of record multiple times, through the efforts of rights lawyers, particularly the irrepressible Femi Falana, SAN.

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The Constitution guarantees Nigerians the fundamental right to freely associate, even at political level, as long as they are not disruptive to public order, peace and safety. Even primary school pupils in elementary Civic classes know that, among other fundamental rights, including the one to belong to a political party of choice as well as moving unmolested in any parts of Nigeria as long as one isn’t constituting a nuisance in his/her habitation or gathering. So on what/whose authority are Rivers’ political thugs operating? It would be very scary if the thugs should be right for any reason regarding the claim of political gatherings now compulsorily requiring the permission of partisan council chairmen to hold. Were the thugs possibly cueing the rest of the country in on a probable covert instruction to council chairmen in the state, all APC, and even beyond, controlled by the ruling party, to adopt the patently unconstitutional and illegal permit requirement arrangement before opposition elements can campaign in their domains? That should be very scary because today, aside Oyo State’s SeyiMakinde, who is in open opposition to the re-election of President Bola Tinubu, the remaining 35 governors, including a couple not of APC like Anambra’s Soludo and Osun’s Adeleke, are daily trumpeting their support for him in 2027. Does it mean opposition would be visited with violence in about 35 states of the country, just to ensure a man wins a second term in office? That would be national madness pro max.

Aside the attack on Amaechi, who should ordinarily deserve no public sympathy considering how he and the rest of the Buhari gang also misused power against then-opposition, an attack was also reported on Peter Obi in Edo, preceded by the governor’s less-than-subtle threat that the presidential contender’s life was not safe in the state. In a saner clime, even with turbocharged political activism like the US, the president, regardless of party affiliation, would have spoken against the violence visited on Obi and ordered tighter security around the attacked aspirant. Yoruba will say “bi a ba nja bi ka ku ko” (death should not be wished on an opponent in a fight). But maybe that is not us. Politics, for many, has long become war, and there must be victors and the vanquished, even if they have to literally send their opponents to hell. And the desperation has nothing to do with genuine desire to serve. It’s all about power and the deducible perks.

The clearest indication Trump was going to return to the White House was when he survived an assassin’s bullets in Butler, though his political opponents were not indicted. But here, the attempt on Obi’s life, even with evidence, became a mere social media ding-dong. In his next visit to the state, which he won handily in 2023, it is doubtful if his supporters would want to be caught napping again.

I wait to see police issuing useless press statements in the event of a bloodbath during future campaigns in the state.

Since all South-South governors mass-migrated into APC, they have been trying to outdo one another in loyalty demonstration to the national leader and president. Even better than the South-West, the home turf of the president, though recently pardoned fugitive Sunday Igboho has also caught the madness of threatening that only APC will campaign in Oyo State. Maybe he should have stayed longer where he was brought from, to learn more civility and tolerance. The South-South governors are behaving like happy puppies, moved from a shitty place to an El Dorado. Being members of the Renewed Hope family or Renewed Hope Rainbow Coalition, like they have in Rivers, appears rewarding and satisfying but you can’t shut the electorate out of options.

Trying to micromanage voters or suppress them isn’t a new tactic for unpopular leaders who want to stay in power, but you can’t ultimately bar people from expressing political desires or catching the fun of campaign gatherings. Nearly everything that should go wrong with Nigeria has, but it isn’t yet a banana republic. At least for the sake of optics projected to the international community, whose validation the president is desperately seeking, he should keep speaking up against electoral violence, starting with campaign violence. Say what you may about Jonathan and his unprecedented loss in 2015, at least he left a sound bite for peace; “my (re)election is not worth the blood of any Nigerian”. When he is long gone the way of every mortal, this line will remain immortal. Beyond power and its influence, which would terminate in 2031 even if we concede 2027 to the president, what does he want to be remembered for? Just a political tactician, who would do just anything for power? Generations not privy to what should be the positives of his political diplomacy and deals that undeniably gave him unprecedented wins would simply read him into their consciousness as “one great power monger”. That should be a disservice to the memory of unarguably one of the most talented politicians of his era. There should be life beyond power and decency in politics.

When this republic debuted in 1999, South-South was the most crimson as one political heavyweight after the other fell to assassins’ bullets in what settled in history as unresolved political killings. South-West, where Igboho is stoking what could invoke a repeat of a string of alleged politically motivated assassinations, also had its share of the wild, wild West: Bola Ige, Funsho Williams, Elewe Omo, among others. Incidentally, it is the same Oyo where Ige was killed and Lagos where Williams was taken out that are being framed as the epic centres of imminent campaign hostilities. In a video days back, a Yoruba guy was seen fuming about the threat by APC thugs in Lagos that other parties are not welcome to sell themselves to the electorate.

The fellow dared the boasting APC thugs to stop him and others who obviously aren’t buying the renewed hope promise. The guy doesn’t look like he’s boasting and there are scars on his face to suggest he is street-made.

The Rivers APC thugs claimed the ADC women didn’t wait for INEC’s whistle to start campaigning, which is a correct conclusion. The ADC coordinator says the gathering wasn’t campaigning. Instead of resorting to self-help because they could, as the ruling party, the ADC women should have been reported to INEC in the state or even in Abuja. Well, maybe the assailants correctly reasoned INEC has been a toothless bulldog in the area of campaign violation enforcement and decided to take matters into their own hands. But is it only ADC that is guilty of it? What about the rainbow coalition working for the president in the state? The obvious tu quoque here is more than whataboutism.

The budding madness of restricting opposition campaign has been more of a Southern Nigeria thing, though Alia’s Benue and Sani’s Kaduna have also had a taste. Is this all about southern solidarity which Tinubu doesn’t even deserve, considering he has worked against southern political interests in this epoch more than any living southerner, a treachery that plateaued with leading the APC troop to sack southern Jonathan for northern Buhari in 2015, just for his 2023 ambition? But God gives grace as He desires. After denying the South the presidency and the speakership, Tinubu should be a political leper in Southern Nigeria but the way of God isn’t man’s.

But his men can’t shut the campaign space down to hold everybody down for him. As the incumbent with a monstrous political machine behind him, he’s favoured and the clear frontrunner. But it can’t be anybody’s fault if he and his men (governors) do not have the hearts of the electorate. They would have to find a path to voters’ hearts, not intimidating. Whoever causes the spill of the blood of the innocent in this election cycle in the name of trying to prove to Abuja there is “no shaking” in his domain, such blood will forever cry for vengeance on his household. The president must denounce the burgeoning campaign violence with immediate effect, before those chased away last time would return to prove their manliness and feminine courage. Who will blame them if they decide to cure madness with madness? In Yoruwood, they call it “ipadabo Abija” (a warrior’s rematch).

Let the president emulate his southern brother he sold to the enemy; let no Nigerian’s blood be worth his 4+4.