PETALS OF BLOOD ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIN. PLEASE READ.

Why are we so blessed? Nigerians have a crop of politicians who love the people so much; that they are ready to maim and kill their opponents in the bid to give the people good governance. To these merchants of violence, the road to the soap and ballot boxes must be painted with blood. And because flying bullets do not discriminate, innocent bystanders unlucky to be near a battlefront when politicians go to war are game. Since the political campaigns kicked off, tension has enveloped the landscape like an aura. So concerned were all stakeholders in the Nigerian project that a peace accord was signed between President Goodluck Jonathan and his main challenger, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd). In spite of that accord, violence unleashed by political thugs has been the order of the day. On three different occasions, the campaign train of President Jonathan has been attacked in the north. Perhaps bloodshed was averted because the security agencies exercised a lot of restraint. They probably had at the back of their mind Jonathan’s popular saying that his ambition is not worth anybody’s life. His words: “I will never ever expect a Nigerian to spill a drop of his blood because Goodluck Jonathan must fulfil his ambition.” Thankfully, no fatalities were recorded in the attacks in Katsina and Bauchi. The political thugs were damn lucky because attacking the convoy of the President of a country is the equivalent of suing for suicide.

Not so lucky though are those who have been at the receiving end of the violence raging in several parts of the country; for not many Nigerian politicians share Jonathan’s philosophy on politics without violence. In Rivers State, the All Progressives Congress, APC, had unsuccessfully tried to hold a rally in Okirika on three occasions. Each time, thugs unleashed violence on them. And in the latest violence, a policeman was one of those killed. We must thank God for little mercies. Imagine if Joseph Mbu were still in charge of the Rivers State Police Command. The new assistant inspector general of police, AIG, in charge of Zone 2 had reportedly told some of his men recently that whenever a policeman was killed, they should kill 20 people to serve as a deterrent. Also in Rivers, the secretariat of the APC was bombed. And in Ebonyi State, the battle between the two factions of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has resulted in the razing of the state’s House of Assembly complex. Luckily, the incident happened at night; thus no life was lost. In Lagos, supporters of the two main political parties were killed when they clashed. And only providence saved two stalwarts of the PDP in Port Harcourt and Calabar when gunmen stormed their residence. The same providence was at work when some gunmen invaded the Abuja home of John Odigie-Oyegun. The national chairman of the APC was not at home when they came calling. His wife was allegedy robbed of N200,000 however.

The invasion of Oyegun’s house was an eerie reminder of the killing of Marshal Harry in his Abuja residence in 2003. Harry was the South-south vice chairman of the PDP, before defecting to the defunct All Nigerian People’s Party. His assassination, which was one of many that Nigerians have lost count of, came shortly before the 2003 general election. Even though some people were arrested for his murder, like many such assassinations before his and after, nothing came of their trial. Thus today, scores of unsolved political murders hang on the nation like an albatross. They include those of Sunday Ugwu (1999), Lai Balogun (2000), Bola Ige (2001), Chimere Ikoku (2003), Funsho Williams (2006), Ayo Daramola (2006) and Mohammed Imam (2006).

Nigerians are of the view that these assassinations would continue as long as those who perpetrated the previous ones are enjoying their freedom. Thus it would be a departure from the norm if the police are able to unmask those who unleashed the violence in Okirika; for Suleiman Abba, inspector general of police, has directed the AIG in charge of Zone Six, under whose purview Rivers State falls, to investigate and bring to book those who unleashed the Okirika mayhem. If they succeed that would be the day. Because one of the major reasons why thugs are able to unleash violence on the populace at will is the large amount of illegal arms and ammunition in the hands of unauthorised persons. Nigerians were stupefied at the amount and sophistication of arms handed over in 2007 by Niger Delta militants as part of the truce signed with the federal government. There were insinuations at the time that what was handed over was just a little percentage of the arms they own. Those arms were imported illegally into the country. The militants are not the only groups with a large cache of illegal weapons. Many politicians are believed to purchase arms for their private armies; it is these armies that are on the rampage now. Is it not curious that in spite of the hue and cry about the danger that light weapons constitute to societal peace all over the world, there is no concerted effort on the part of government to block its entry into Nigeria? Apart from the illegal importation of arms, there are so many local armouries making roaring business with undesirable elements like robbers and cultists.

And it is because of the love that our politicians have for the citizenry, that is why rather than move to curb the flow of illegal weapons, many of them and their families prefer to vote with their feet at these times. They leave their hirelings, who are paid peanuts, behind as cannon fodder to do their dirty jobs. And when all the smoke has cleared and the streets have been swept clean of the blood of the unlucky ones, these lovers of ours emerge from their hide-outs to congratulate themselves, the divide long forgotten, for surviving the mayhem which seed they sowed. While many mourn the unlucky among the cannon fodder and the innocent bystanders who are rotting in freshly dug graves, our politicians will pop champagne, toasting to their good health. And the beat goes on. Aren’t we so blessed?

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