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Like it happened when the nation approached the 2003 general elections, the country is, again, witnessing cases of politically motivated assassinations and general political violence as the nation moves closer to the 2007 polls.
Like it happened when the nation approached the 2003 general elections, the country is, again, witnessing cases of politically motivated assassinations and general political violence as the nation moves closer to the 2007 polls. Five persons, according to reports, were feared dead last weekend in Azare Fatiha town in Bauchi State, when supporters of the State Governor, Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Muazu, and those of former Aviation Minister, Mallam Isa Yuguda, clashed at a wedding. While Muazu's camp alleges assassination plot against the governor by Yuguda, the latter makes a counter claim against the governor. The Minister of Inter-Governmental Affairs, Youth Development and Special Duties, Col. Musa Mohammed (rtd.), a few days ago, also petitioned President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Police High Command and other security agencies over alleged plots by the Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Danjuma Goje, to eliminate him. The governor has denied the allegation through his Chief Press Secretary. Former External Affairs Minister, Chief Tom Ikimi, has, likewise, raised alarm over threats to his life.
In Oyo State, the feud between Governor Rasheed Ladoja and Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu's supporters recently resulted in a prolonged gun battle that reportedly claimed two lives. Public property valued at N450 million was also destroyed. Other suspected casualties of the Ladoja-Adedibu face-off were one Taofeek Daropale and Alhaji Lateef Olaniyan, both killed by unknown gunmen in Ibadan last year.
The same bitterness and violence that attended the 2003 general elections had resulted in the killing of many prominent politicians and non-politicians alike, such as Chief Bola Ige, then Attorney-General and Minister of Justice; Ahmed Pategi, former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Kwara State; former chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association, Onitsha branch, Mr. Barnabas Igwe, and his wife, Abigail; Dr. Marshal Harry, the PDP National Vice Chairman for South South, who later defected to the ANPP; as well as Chief A. K. Dikibo, who stepped into Harry's shoes in the PDP, to mention just a few. Virtually all the cases remain unresolved.
With recent developments, there is a sense of foreboding in the air. The brazen recourse by the political class to kill and maim in order to get to office can be traced to the flawed perception of politics as the shortest route to wealth. Because most of the politicians loot and get away with it, those shut out are embittered and want to participate by all means, while those in power plot to remain. Sadly, public service has been relegated.
Not only are the people denied their constitutional role of deciding who governs them through the ballot box, the government, since 1999, has made no serious effort to midwife an electoral process that can make elections free and fair. Equal access to political power is, therefore, a mirage. The weak institutions of democracy are being exploited by dubious politicians to rape the system. The alleged plot to elongate the President's tenure is another major source of tension within the polity.
By flagrantly trampling on the rule of law and the constitution in the Anambra and Oyo states political crises, among others, and shutting the political space against its own members, the PDP government has shown that it is benefitting from the rot in the system and, therefore, can hardly be trusted with the supervision of a free and fair general election.
The atmosphere of violence has been fostered by a regime of official impunity. The failure to resolve past cases of politically motivated murder, including that of a former Minister of Justice, is an incentive for further killings by a shadowy cabal. A society that wants to live in peace must be firm enough to apprehend and bring criminals to justice.
The PUNCH, Friday, January 06, 2006