Rivers State, with last Saturday’s rerun polls for the election of three senators, 12 House of Representatives and 22 House of Assembly members, lived up to its billing as an electoral “trouble spot” in the country. Some of the stakeholders in the politics of the state, in spite of all admonitions and calls for peaceful polls from all over the country and beyond, threw caution to the winds and unleashed violence on the electoral process, resulting in the death of no fewer than four people, including a youth corps member identified as Dumebi Samuel Okonta.

Instead of a celebration of democracy, which is a civilized process through which people elect their representatives at different levels of government, what the nation witnessed in Rivers was a contest of muscles and brigandage, with the power of brute might prevailing over reason and orderly conduct.

What emerged at the end of the day are widely contested election results and the suspension of elections in eight local governments by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) “until peace returns to the state.

Is anyone hearing the drums of victory in Rivers State? I doubt it. The violence in the build up to the polls, which culminated in numerous killings, including that of a Major in the Nigerian Army two days to the elections, dampened the joy of the polls. The ghosts of those killed last Saturday are also still hanging around, making if difficult for anyone to either rejoice over the electoral victory or mourn the loss.

One thing that has become glaring is that victory may be sweet, and defeat, bitter, but the process leading up to the winning and losing of elections is also important to the outcome.  Both the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state have recorded human and material losses in this contest, but the greatest loser of all are the ordinary people in the state who have been stripped of the joy of electing their representatives in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. They have been forced to see elections as a battle to either win or lose, with themselves as the ultimate victims of the exercise. Scores of ordinary citizens of the state suffered injuries. Twenty two people were reportedly arrested, including the Secretary to the state government, a special adviser to the state governor, and Governor Nyesom Wike’s chief of staff. This is not to say that no persons were arrested for electoral offences in the APC camp as none of the parties is a stranger to electoral malfeasance.

It has become necessary to urge all those who contributed to the fiasco in the Rivers rerun polls to have a change of heart. There is a Yoruba adage to the effect that it is unfortunate that a white cock does not recognise itself as an elder in the gathering of cockerels. The two strongmen of Rivers politics, former two-time governor of the state now Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi and the incumbent state governor, Nyesom Wike, need to be told in clear terms to leave room for peace and peaceful elections in their state. The animosity between these two leading politicians is not in the best interest of their people. Their mutual desperation to dominate the state has become a veritable threat to peace and democracy, and they will do well to caution themselves before throwing their people into a conflagration. Their endless warmongering is unbecoming of their high offices. They should show a better example to their followers. They should stop the endless battles for supremacy and think more of the best interest of the ordinary people of their state. They should go beyond politicking to service to the people. The story of the endless political battles in Rivers State is nothing but an account of the unending conflicts between Amaechi and his estranged paddy, Wike.

Again, the security agencies and INEC officials also deserve greater scrutiny and even condemnation over the happenings in the state last Saturday. INEC and the security agencies have, for long, held that political party leaders, like all other voters, are expected to cast their votes and return to their homes as movement is always restricted for all voters on election days. How come, then, that politicians in the state are   allowed to move around and cause mayhem in the state on election days?

It also important to interrogate the role of the security agencies in the rerun elections. Governor Wike has said he has pictures of atrocities perpetrated by the military during the election. At the same time, a top official of his government who was arrested with a police uniform and a huge sum of money in a car said the police uniform belongs to a policeman who was staying in his brother’s house for the election period, while the car also belongs to his brother. These, really, are funny stories coming out from the Rivers elections. It suggests that the security agents did not play their role well in the elections. Their handling of the rerun polls ought to be investigated with a view to punishing those who might have stepped out of bounds, to set the tone for better compliance with their rules of engagement in future polls.  The ordinary citizens of Rivers also need to rethink their involvement in the Wike/Amaechi wars.  This, indeed, is another war of the giants in which it is the grass (followers) that suffers. Both the people and their warring leaders owe their state everything they can do to restore peaceful and credible elections to their state.

The elders of the state must also move to save their people from anarchy. They should mediate in this titanic battle between Amaechi and Wike and call them both to order. The outcome of the rerun polls in Rivers State is embarrassing and has been attracting comments from all over the world. It is necessary to right all the wrongs of the polls and do all that is required to give the state credible elections. The elections in the remaining eight local government should not be marred by the irregularities that attended  last Saturday’s exercise.


Re: Ese and the shame of a nation

There is every evidence that Nigeria is ill in all aspects of governance – economic, religious, ethnic and social. Keeping the economic  aspect aside which looks unresolvable and concentrating on ethnic and religious aspects alone, where in the entire world other than Nigeria does one find a religious man choosing to abduct an adolescent girl of another faith, with many qualified females of all ages within his faith, to abduct and marry, when the mere fact that his victim belongs to another faith confers the dictum “Haram” on such a relationship?

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Yet, Yunusa was protected by the governing bodies of his faith that should sanction him and confirm the “haram” in his action. But, why would one be surprised by the religious bodies’ misaction when  herdsmen from the N orth wreak havoc at will, including destruction of lives, just to ensure their herds are fed on the economic products of other parts of the country and not a single word of caution has come from their ethnic brothers in charge of the affairs  of the country. Instead, they choose to look aside. Would a normal human being not say that “all is well” with misdeeds, indeed?

If the print media had not come out in full force, it would have passed like many other similar undisclosed cases. Let me avoid subjudice, since the case is in court for adjudication, and believe that justice will be dished out in the end. I say “amen”, with a pinch of salt.

With all these, is Nigeria a nation or a mere notion? God save Nigeria.

Lai Ashadele

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