ABDULKADIR SALAUDEEN FROM OPINION NIGERIA
The presidential election was said to be relatively peaceful. Though the outcome of the election is challenged and may be fiercely challenged in a long legal battle, the fact remains that it is not characterized by the degree of violence that Nigerians are accustomed to. I consider this a plus to Nigerian adult but crawling democracy. However, the gubernatorial election last Saturday sent us a caveat: “not yet uhuru.” So, we have be very careful. Contextually, democracy is still a dangerous system and a sad experience in Nigeria.
Thuggery almost played official roles in the recently semi-concluded gubernatorial election in Nigeria. Semi-concluded since Adamawa and few other states were declared inconclusive. Thugs are not just thugs in our thuggish democracy; they are political actors that must be reckoned with. This is not to say their roles should be appreciated, it is just to acknowledge the existential threat thuggery poses to Nigerian democracy which could be best described as a thuggish democracy.
Thugs, in most case, are mobilized to disrupt or rig election in favour of their benefactors. They are also mobilized to foment trouble and create political instability by some desperate political office seekers when they are defeated in election. This is not the case in Kano State. Thugs in Kano State are pitiably different. The Kwankwasiyyah’s NNPP won the gubernatorial election in Kano though the incumbent APC government has challenged the victory. It is surprising to observe that despite the NNPP’s victory, Kwankwasiyyah thugs settled for violence. The best they could do to celebrate their party’s victory is to unleash violence on innocent citizens.
It is not that all Kano thugs are supporters of NNPP. The ruling APC party in Kano State does have its thugs. But it is unfathomable and unexplainable that the only way to celebrate victory is to be trigger-happy by demonstrating competency and extraordinariness in inflicting violence. Car classes were smashed in celebration. It does not matter, to these thugs, whether these cars belong to NNPP supporters or not. Worst of it, the house of a famous musician, Dauda Kahutu Rarara, was burnt. His crime? He composed a song in support of APC. These thugs, in their rabid madness, think it is a crime to support APC against NNPP in Kano.
I don’t know which is worse between the thugs in Kano and those in Lagos State. Though, they exhibited their madness differently. While those in Kano became more active after winning election, those in Lagos were more active before and during the election. There is this debate about gubernatorial election in Lagos. Was the election conducted by INEC officials or by Lagos thugs (also known as agberos)?It is difficult to tell actually. What is very glaring was voters’ intimidation and suppression. This intimidation was glaringly against the Igbos and all other non-Yoruba ethnic groups who were thought to be sympathetic to the Labour Party.
If anyone thinks Labour Party is an ethnic party, that doesn’t make it undemocratic. Political parties, right from historical Nigeria, were formed along ethnic line. The post-independence Chief Awolowo’s Action Group in Nigeria is a Yoruba party. If that was not a misnomer, the Labour Party, even if it is an Igbo party as alleged cannot be a misnomer. For the fear of a repeated defeat and shame witnessed during the presidential election where the Lagos god was defeated, Lagos thugs committed all sorts of atrocities against the Igbos. The major crime of the Igbos was that they disobediently committed deicide (the killing of god) by defeating Tinubu in Lagos.
Not only that, idolaters in Lagos resorted to fetishism. Fetishistic rites (like Oro) was observed in some parts of Lagos on the eve of election. During the ritual of Oro, it is mandatory for females and non-natives to stay indoor. This was allegedly aimed at the Igbos. Did you see any videos of the Oro? You will observe that those behind it were probably comedians and thugs. In his column titled “The Cults of Lagos”, Suyi Ayodele of the Tribune Newspaper said he laughed heartily when he watched some of the videos. Reading that article, one who knows Oro in Yoruba tradition will easily conclude that the Oro is as charade as the gubernatorial election in Lagos state is.
What about the threat of MC Oluomo—the chief of agbero—in Lagos that no Igbo should come out to vote? The Police discarded it as a joke, not a threat. One point here: the thugs (agbero) in Lagos have leaders and they are stupendously rich and officially empowered. One of such is the so-called MC Oluomo. I am not aware if thugs in Kano have official toga or stupendously rich.
Lagos gubernatorial election is a charade. All hands were on deck to ensure that “outsiders” and “invaders” did not, as they put it, “hijack Lagos.” This is cowardice. The clerical class (the alfas) which I consider innocent were drawn into it. They were used to deceive Lagosian Mulsims that voting Sanwo-olu (a Christian) is consolidating Muslim-Muslim ticket. Thugs too were used to consolidate Muslim-Muslim ticket. Idolaters too, through their Oro festival, were employed to consolidate Muslim-Muslim ticket.
These clerics (alfas), known for integrity, will definitely cringe at the rate of voters’ intimidation during the election except if their integrity is fake and questionable. I also believe if some of these Muslim clerics had known that fetishistic festival like Oro and thugs will be employed to consolidate the so-called Muslim-Muslim ticket, they would have probably distanced themselves from being partisan. The question is: how do partisan clerics speak truth to power? Don’t forget that some of these clerics are the source of spiritual powers to some of these Lagos thugs. Political thuggery in Lagos, and else where in Nigeria, indeed paints Nigeria as a democratic basket case.
What about the Adamawa political thugs? They belong to Aishatu Binani’s APC and Ahmadu Fintiri’s PDP. They are ruthless too in their political thuggery. What I really don’t understand in Adamawa’s inconclusive election is who is actually rigging the election. And if the election is not being rigged as alleged by the two leading parties, why is the winner not declared. Obviously, PDP is leading. It is either Aishatu Binani lost the election, and there is a plan to make her the winner by all means to break the ceiling glass. In that case, she will be the first elected female governor in Nigeria. Or she actually won the election but there are plans to rig it against her not to emerge as female governor by some cultural and religious forces. INEC is advised not to take side. It should be transparent and declare the true winner as winner. Let’s see how things pan out.
At any rate, something decisively must be done to put a stop to political thuggery and all other thuggeries in Nigeria. Our democracy must not be thuggish.
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