At the end of last Saturday’s supplementary polls, it has become apt to intervene on this forum on the bloodletting, not in the sense of melee, but outright bloodshed, that characterised the general elections. At the last count, which is by me, 40 people had been forcibly sent to the great beyond on account of the 2019 elections across the country. I have been told that my figure is wrong, but I feel disquieted by the number I have. I risk depression in seeking for more, and, perhaps finding out that my number is a tip of the iceberg of the real figure. I have also been told that it is not a Nigerian thing. It is like the uniting factor in sub Saharan Africa, except in Ghana, where such killings hardly exist. But I am concerned about Nigeria, not just on account of patriotic exuberance, but because it seems that no one is immune to the field of blood.
To stay out of harm’s way is to stay away from the elections. That would be a redefinition of democracy because the majority would sit at home, to keep away from trouble, for the minority to decide who mounts the saddle. Thuggery has continued to be a vital ingredient of politics. In 2011, I was on a mission to cover elections in Akwa Ibom state. Former Governor, Godswill Akpabio, was standing for elections for a second term. Journalist on that mission moved in a group from place to place. At one of the places we met a commissioner in the government who, we were told, had a mandate to deliver the area to the ruling party. As we chatted with him, he took a call on his phone, and was told that things were not moving in his desired direction in some units. He, probably oblivious of the people around him, literarily barked into the phone: ‘move our men into that area, move them there, have you ran out of men? Move fast, move our men there’.
I was later told that men was the pseudonym for thugs. Getting men ready for the job of elections is a vital part of the preparations for the polls. When men from opposing sides collide, the alter of elections receive the ultimate sacrifice of blood, because the move to subdue the opposing camp results in fisticuffs, and outright shooting, resulting in loss of lives. Lagos has shown that high ranking politicians engage these ‘men’ on permanent basis, and keep them for ‘action time’ .
These men would rather die or kill than not accomplish what they set out to do. I watched the video of a Youth Corps member weeping profusely (M1) where she hid when men attacked her polling unit, forcing every official in sight to flee for their lives. She wept like one who saw death walking eerily towards her. It was a worrisome sight, more so when one did not know what became of the lady. It was salutary when the National Youth Service Corp [NYSC] gave assurances that none of its members fell to the alter of election violence.
Elections have become blood sucking demons of sorts. In 2011, in spite of the acclaimed free and fair elections in most parts of the nation, Human Rights Watch reported that no less that 800 people died in the process, most of them following riots that broke out after the elections results of the presidential elections came to light. There were protests, leading to the death of many people in parts of the country. I have often opined that the frequency of elections in our clime is rather regular when juxtaposed with costs in cash and loss of lives. N189.2 billion budgeted for the last elections comes close to the budget of some states, yet a nation in dire need of infrastructure spends that much in a four-yearly circle. People perish with the huge sum.
The democratic process is an expensive project, but the nation can cut the process through elongated circles. When former President Goodluck Jonathan muted the idea, the opposition took him to the cleaners, saying he wanted tenure elongation clothed masquerading in another garb. I did, and still do, support that office tenure be stretched to single one of six years. What an office holder does not achieve in six years would remain a mirage in the eight year. Single tenure is a sure antidote to political tension. Tension is part of politics, but second term heightens the pressure. Office holders would pull all stops and upturn all stones to return to office for a second term.
Their ego would bear a dent if they do not return to office. Elections in Nigeria have become an alter appeased with human blood. Nigeria’s democracy may not qualify for the sobriquet nascent anymore. The age of contract and adulthood in Nigeria is 18, which is why a process in its 20th year has adorned the garb of adulthood. People born at the commencement of this process have attained voting age. Election violence, and its attendant killings, have become the culture in the land. No such process has happened without sending people to the great beyond. Some actors on the political stage have tended to amplify the bloodshed by their body language and utterance.
We shall give our opponents whatever they want. We are equal to the task, they would say, to rouse lesser mortals to negative action, often resulting in bloodshed. Certain states have acquired the unenviable status as the axis of blood, and they have kept the sad trophy as something to be guarded jealously as though it were valuable. Some have proffered electronic voting as a way out given that there would be no queues and ballot boxes to be snatched and stuffed. INEC may begin to tinker with the idea. I do not go with the pessimists who say technology is at a low ebb in this clime to support such move. It can be done. If Lamido Sanusi had listened to such retrogressive mindset as Central bank Governor, he would not have introduced Automated Teller Machines when he did.
Today even barely literate people clutch their ATM cards around, and seek help when they want to use it. Let electronic voting begin, if it will stem election violence and save the youths being cut in their prime during elections. For now, elections ought not to hold every four years. It bores a deep hole in the national pocket, and more sadly, it has become a killing field of sorts.
