POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA

Eucharia Mbachu

 Nigerians have gone through their first elections in which two civilian members of society vied for the presidency of the country. What made this event remarkable is the fact that since independence in 1960, the people of this most populated African land did not enjoy civilian rule for the greater part of their decolonized life. Life was made politically risky for the civilian politicians because of the tyranny of the man in khaki and the life-ending power of his bullets. This way of life was ushered into African politics by the earliest coup detats in the continent. The republics of Togo and that of the Congo set the stage and by 1965 Nigeria joined the bandwagon effect of coup detats after coup detats in the continent. As a result, since the collapse of the first civilian government  of Nigeria led by Nnamdi Azikiwe as president and Tafawa Balewa as Prime Minister, no other civilian tasted the fruits of civilian power in the country until the transfer of power from the military rule of  Olusegun Obasanjo  to an elected civilian leader, Shehu Shagari.

In trying to evaluate the recent elections the impact of political violence in the country, two things come to mind. The first is the significance of this electoral contest and the manner in which greed, fear of losing and the corruptibility of the electors and the elected conspire to make politics the game of the vampires whose taste for blood is driven by money and luxuries of life. The decision by President Obasanjo , popularly known as OBJ in the tradition of the Americans calling their presidents by nicknames opens the political floodgates in the country created the conditions for rough political activism from all fronts. Unlike his predecessor, military ruler Ibrahim Babangida , President Obasanjo enjoyed a peaceful transition from himself to Shaehu Sahagari in 1979 this time around he intends to repeat the same process. His unique role this time around rests in the fact that he is a civilian in 2007 and acts like a retiring civilian who wished to  complete his term joyously. The second thing to note here is the gravity of the contest and the political violence that could take place in the country.

When we look at this year’s general elections we find that political violence has assumed many different forms. There is violence at the local government level; there is violence at the state level; and there is violence at the federal level. Each of these forms of violence assumes a different manifestation. Throughout the political history of the country Nigerians have seen violence at the local level. This kind of violence was resorted to by political cronies of big men who wished to preserve power at a local area. The scale of violence was largely determined by the geography of the contested area and the stake involved. During the colonial period such conflicts revolved around disagreements between colonial sympathizers and their resistant African opponents. Whenever and wherever such crises developed, the Europeans tried to maintain power and dignity by suppressing the African dissidents. Through deliberate acts of force to keep the peace, the colonizers prevailed. In the northern part of the country, those Africans who challenged the European powers, were taught a nasty lessons and with much sufferings, similarly, those who opposed the warren chiefs had their own moments of grieve for acts of insubordination. The Western part of Nigeria has many moments where internal Yoruba disagreements set the stage for superior government intervention.

During the post colonial period violence in the activities of the political parties came through the acts of political thugs recruited to protect their political masters and to intimidate their rivals. Some of these political thugs became well known actors in their own ways. One of the most successful self-admitted political thugs was the late Okadigbo , who rose to the presidency of the Nigerian Senate.

In these latest elections the news media in the country have documented local, state and federal acts of violence. Even though President Obasanjo has maintained that the   elections took place peacefully, he admitted to the prevalence of violence in certain parts of the country. In a press statement issued in response to the crisis in Ekiti state, he had the following points to make:

“I am, once again, constrained to address the nation on an issue that presents a clear danger of possible breakdown of public order and public safety in a part of the country.
You will recall that gubernatorial and State House of Assembly elections took place nationwide last Saturday, April 14^th 2007 . While the exercise was peaceful in some states, the situation in Ekiti   State can hardly be said to have been so as the state has been characterized by acts of violence and mayhem allegedly instigated by an impeached governor of the state and some disgruntled elements who are bent on taking the state on the road to perdition and destruction.”

Due to the state of things President Obasanjo has taken absolute measure to restore law and order in Ekiti. In his view, “ the gravity of the situation therefore, and by virtue of Section 305 of the 199 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,”  he has declared “a State of Emergency in Ekiti State” and the declaration is now a part of the Federal Gazette of April 17, 2007. In order to restore law and order the President appointed Brigadier General Tunji   Olurin (rtd), to run the affairs of Ekiti   State until May 29, 2007 . The Federal Gazette containing the Declaration has been forwarded to the National Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

While the President lamented the collapse of law and order in Ekiti, his political opponents were expressing rage and anger in the kind of political monkeyshines displayed by his ruling party. According to the opposition what is taking place is the imposition of a single-party system by the governing party. At a  press conference addressed by Chief Bisi Akande, Chairman of ACTION CONGRESS (AC) on 18 ^th  APRIL, 2007 in Abuja on the worsening political crisis in Nigeria), this opposition leader asked his fellow Nigerians to worry about the worsening political crisis in the country. According to their claims, “last Saturday’s shameful Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections

have been violent.” They claimed that elections were rigged and votes of protesting Nigerians were discarded. Chief Akande stated : “All over the world, the images coming out of Nigeria are of dead bodies littering our streets, of burnt and blackened houses and vehicles, of security agents chasing, clubbing and tear-gassing defenseless citizens, and of heavily armed agents of the government and the PDP raiding polling stations and hijacking ballot-boxes.  In a state like Osun, government agents stormed the homes of AC leaders and supporters harassing and intimidating them before and after the election.”  The whole world is still horrified by the level of depravity of those who conceived, planned, funded and executed such an audacious daylight robbery.”

In light of this state of affairs the general elections confirm many of the things we already know about politics in Nigeria and elsewhere in the developing world. Political thuggery and political violence are parts and parcels of the contest of wills between rival political parties. We read about this in Asia and Latin America . What makes the Nigerian situation unfortunate lies in the manner in which traditional African values are slaughtered on the altar of personal aggrandizement and community weaknesses.

Five challenges face Nigerians as they grapple with the consequences of the elections and look forward into the future of their society. The first is the resolution of the conflicts between the ruling party and its opposition. Is there a way out of this present malaise and how can the sitting party open itself to regain some degree of credibility? In order to change the state of things some compromises must be made. This takes time and all political actors must sweat it together. Experiences from the past do not give us much confidence. What occupied in the past created room for soldiers to march into the chambers of the dissenting civilians and seized the crown of power.

The second challenge is to reassure Nigerians that there is life beyond the ballot box and the politics of the belly would not be changed overnight, but the circumstances that can be worked on by the politicians if they wish to maintain law and order in the society.

The third challenge facing the nation lies in the image that others outside the country have about Nigerians. Will foreigners see the elections as just another illustration of the conspiracy of the politics of deception and the politics of the belly coming together in the periodical appeals to the common masses of this most populated African land? Here too the Nigerian leaders and their people have much to contribute. Foreign images are difficult to change, but if Nigerians can spare and save lives of fellow Nigerians in their struggle for power, chances are foreigners will come to see the human spirit of this people and give the benefit of doubt of kudos to their Nigerian partners. The fourth challenge facing the country lies in the decline of political greed. Nigerian politicians have been eternally reviled as greedy as in the person of Chief Nanga in Chinua Achebe’s Man of the People, and Wole Soyinka made it clear that political opposition is driven by greed and hunger for power as demonstrated in his Konji’s Harvest, those who seek for political development in Nigeria must therefore see the latest elections as a warning for bad things to come or the beginning of an elaborate and painful breakaway from political backwardness.

The last challenge Nigeria is facing revolves around political order; it also lies in the kind of political violence experienced in election times and the probability of bringing it to an end. Such a task is mind-bugling and future Nigerians can measure the rate of our speed in political development. As Sunny Okuson once sang "Which Way Nigeria"?

Robot  Villager

# 1 POLITICAL ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 20.04.2007 02:48