The stage is set. If everything remains the same, Nigeria , within the next few hours, will be stepping into the crucible of a landmark election. Ideally, victories should be secured by the contenders to the various offices through the ballot box. But if the reports from parts of the country are anything to go by, then these elections will be won, not by votes, but by cruel means. Blood will play a major role in these elections.

Nobody could have been deceived into believing that President Olusegun Obasanjo was joking when he said that the elections would be a do-or-die affair. And while he has been using judicial and extra-judicial means to cow the opposition into submission, he could not be assumed to be merely trying to instil fear, either. The Obasanjo we all know means everything he says with his blood. You will remember that not even the weary outcry from an equally weary public would make him tender an apology for that unbecoming statement. And he has stated again and again that he does not owe anybody any apology for such a normal declaration.

Now that the elections are here, it is disheartening, though not surprising, that members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party are doing everything to execute the grand design of their master. They are working very hard to ensure that blood flows and lives are wasted to secure victory for their party. What is important to them is the victory, not the people. So it must be obtained at any cost.  

Ordinarily, PDP should not be a threat to anybody. Everywhere one turns, one finds the abysmal failure of the party in the past eight years. Perpetual darkness stares you in the face at home. Fear and insecurity reign supreme on the road. Rising prices of goods and services are the order of the day. There is no guarantee that fuel stations will always get their supplies, in spite of the rising costs. So the only thing to do with PDP and its archaic officials is throw them into the waste bin of history through the ballot. But PDP is a drowning man – it will attempt to drag everybody, including the nation, along with it.

Already, willing youths in Edo State are getting guns and are being paid one hundred thousand naira each to cause confusion and wreck havoc at any polling booth where it is obvious PDP is not winning. If I had read or heard this in the media, I would have taken it with a pinch of salt. But it came straight from someone who said he turned down the offer. As a student, he needed the money, all right, but he could neither smoke nor drink. And these were part of the requirements for the deal. In other words, they needed and recruited only people who would be ruthless at the crucial moments of the elections.

And in Lagos , not a few people were shocked when Governor Bola Tinubu visited a troubled spot on the Island to campaign for his anointed candidate: area boys were openly asking him to give them a good supply of weapons. “Please give us guns,” they pleaded. Remember, if the election is a do-or-die affair for PDP, the opposition would certainly not want to be caught napping. So it has to be fire for fire. The opposition too seems to be stocking deadly weapons for the elections. And where two elephants fight, the grass will necessarily suffer. Only a few days ago, five people were reported to have been killed by gun-carrying party thugs at an Action Congress rally in Lagos . This morning, attacks in some parts of Lagos yesterday were said to have left at least four people dead.   

I am sure it is for a time like this that Obasanjo has been courting Lamidi Adedibu. Without elections, parts of Ibadan have been as unsafe as hell. Certainly, the strongman of Ibadan politics who has enough guns in his arsenal must be praised by his party and masters in Abuja for having all it will take to wreck havoc in Oyo State and deliver the votes to PDP. In Lagos , Musiliu Obanikoro is not the PDP gubernatorial candidate, despite all odds, for nothing. Remember, he is the self-acclaimed political son of Obasanjo. He has already threatened that only he, and he alone, can and must emerge winner at the gubernatorial elections in the state. And he has the machinery to stir up a whirlwind, with the backing of Abuja , in trying to wrestle power from an equally formidable opposition.  

The truth is, of the over 70 percent of Nigerians living below poverty line, I am yet to meet one who is not disgruntled with PDP. The internal turmoil in the party is another thing that can send it to the graves at the elections. Never mind that they will always try to present a united front when it comes to deceiving us all. This time around, the crack in their wall is extending to the foundation. So who is PDP counting on their votes to win the elections? That is why guns, more than anything else, will play a major role in these elections.

The real sad thing, though! The greatest challenge we may have, apart from the guns, is that there is no credible opposition that will emerge from the bloodbath at the elections as the people’s saviour. That really is what makes me sad. I am convinced that with all arms and ammunition at the disposal of PDP, it can still lose the elections. Did I hear somebody say impossible? This is a personal opinion, but I believe it is not impossible. My greatest fear is, after the battle has been fought and won, who takes over? That is what makes me really sad.                        

Robot  Villager

# 1 The stage is set. If everything remains the same, ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 12.04.2007 08:19

Temisan  Villager

# 2 Doh, I want to wish my fellow villagers a very happy "Sh*t on Atiku/AC" day(s)! (i.e. April 12th and 13th). Public holidays as a partisan tool? What next? Naija never ceases to amaze me :) The PDP administration has continually made a travesty of the constitutional process (e.g. declaring PDP decampee seats vacant). It would be great to see the Nigerian polity evolve once those charlatans advising Baba Iyabo have been evicted from Aso Rock. Regards, Mr. Temisan West (The Deltabian) Posted by Temisan| 12.04.2007 10:44

Abraxas  Villager

# 3 Hi, Mr. Sylvester Ojenagbon! Below is a litany of unsubstantiated innuendoes, insinuations, wild guesses, speculations, and sheer hystrionics that you deliberately injected into the consciousness of Villagers, JJCs and visitors to our Village of origin. As you may be aware, I have zero tolerance, indeed, an allergy for official praise-singers and holders of partisan sentiments. From what I can make of your article, which incidentally did not add any discernable value to our deliberations in the Square, it is glaring that you are the voicebox of a political party, very probably AC, on the prowl in cyberspace, peddling false alarms about the mayhem yet to come, which it appears, you seem to very desperately wish to happen during the forth-coming general elections. I am sure you know that Nigeria is more resilient than your imagination seems to push you into beleiving. Kindly take a second look at the FALSE ALARMS you single-handedly raised in our Square, and see if you can put in a word or two of an apology to esteemed Villagers, rational JJCs, and respected visitors to our Village, please. I beg you, jo. =Sylvester Ojenagbon;167794>But if the reports from parts of the country are anything to go by, then these elections will be won, not by votes, but by cruel means. Blood will play a major role in these elections. =Sylvester Ojenagbon;167794>The Obasanjo we all know means everything he says with his blood. You will remember that not even the weary outcry from an equally weary public would make him tender an apology for that unbecoming statement. And he has stated again and again that he does not owe anybody any apology for such a normal declaration. =Sylvester Ojenagbon;167794>Now that the elections are here, ... members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party are doing everything to execute the grand design of their master.... to ensure that blood flows and lives are wasted to secure victory for their party. What is important to them is the victory, not the people. So it must be obtained at any cost. =Sylvester Ojenagbon;167794>Already, willing youths in Edo State are getting guns and are being paid one hundred thousand naira each to cause confusion and wreck havoc at any polling booth where it is obvious PDP is not winning. ...it came straight from someone who said he turned down the offer. As a student, he needed the money, all right, but he could neither smoke nor drink. And these were part of the requirements for the deal. In other words, they needed and recruited only people who would be ruthless at the crucial moments of the elections. =Sylvester Ojenagbon;167794>And in Lagos ,....when Governor Bola Tinubu visited a troubled spot on the Island to campaign for his anointed candidate, area boys were openly asking him to give them a good supply of weapons. “Please give us guns,” they pleaded. Remember, if the election is a do-or-die affair for PDP, the opposition would certainly not want to be caught napping. So it has to be fire for fire. The opposition too seems to be stocking deadly weapons for the elections. =Sylvester Ojenagbon;167794>I am sure it is for a time like this that Obasanjo has been courting Lamidi Adedibu.... to wreck havoc in Oyo State and deliver the votes to PDP. In Lagos , Musiliu Obanikoro is not the PDP gubernatorial candidate, despite all odds, for nothing. Remember, he is the self-acclaimed political son of Obasanjo. He has already threatened that only he, and he alone, can and must emerge winner at the gubernatorial elections in the state. And he has the machinery to stir up a whirlwind, with the backing of Abuja , in trying to wrestle power from an equally formidable opposition. =Sylvester Ojenagbon;167794>Never mind that they will always try to present a united front when it comes to deceiving us all. This time around, the crack in their wall is extending to the foundation. So who is PDP counting on their votes to win the elections? That is why guns, more than anything else, will play a major role in these elections. =Sylvester Ojenagbon;167794>The real sad thing, though! The greatest challenge we may have, apart from the guns, is that there is no credible opposition that will emerge from the bloodbath at the elections as the people’s saviour. That really is what makes me sad. I am convinced that with all arms and ammunition at the disposal of PDP, it can still lose the elections. Did I hear somebody say impossible? This is a personal opinion, but I believe it is not impossible. My greatest fear is, after the battle has been fought and won, who takes over? That is what makes me really sad. Sofry-sofry, I beg you, (you hear?) Muchas gracias, my pikin. Don Juan Carlos ABRAXAS (III) Posted by Abraxas| 12.04.2007 12:36

vikiviko  JJC

# 4 The spate of violence is on the high.Just today i saw 3 unifrmed policemen injured after a fight with supporters of a party yet to be identified in obalende , lagos island. I just hope th elections are peaceful and the winners declared and not annulled Posted by vikiviko| 12.04.2007 14:49

vikiviko  JJC

# 5 The spate of violence is on the high.Just today i saw 3 unifrmed policemen injured after a fight with supporters of a party yet to be identified in obalende , lagos island. I just hope the elections are peaceful and the winners declared and not annulled Posted by vikiviko| 12.04.2007 14:50

WarriBoy  JJC

# 6 Abraxas, You accused the writer of being an official praise-singer and making claims which “did not add any discernible value to our deliberations.” Your utterances are somewhat preposterous and I'd like to think you made them because you were oblivious of the assassinations that preceded – and marred – the elections. A vast majority of those who seek political office in Nigeria do so not because they are intent on improving the lives of ordinary Nigerians like us. Rather they see it as a route to untold riches and would stop at nothing. You only need to stray into BA's premium class lounge at Heathrow a few hours before a Lagos or Abuja-bound flight to see the money-miss-roads with their hangers-on acting like they own the flipping place. People who under normal circumstances would be struggling like the rest of us (bad bele you might say but it's the truth). Anyway that na different matter. You seemed a bit optimistic about the elections. All well and good. But how would you describe an election where armed thugs carted away ballot boxes in full view of the public? Or an election where you have political thugs telling you how to cast your vote. Is that a free election? Only in Nigeria is it possible to have the incumbent state governor build an office for INEC in his own village and the imbeciles who run the electoral see nothing wrong with that? Presumably the phrase 'conflict of interest' means bugger all to them. The thugs who raided police stations in Port-Harcourt because they didn't want the election to hold didn't go there for a cosy chat. They went on a killing spree. You call that a peaceful election? My brother abeg no talk wetin go make person vex for no reason. I guess you wrote your reply before the election so that explains your 'optimism'. Posted by WarriBoy| 16.04.2007 16:28