POLITICS-NIGERIA: Violence Mars Local Council Primaries

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Jul 4 2002 (IPS) - Political violence has gripped Nigeria ahead of next month’s local council elections.

At least two people were killed in the central city of Ilorin this week following clashes between supporters of the ruling All People’s Party and opposition People’s Democratic Party.

Ilorin police spokesperson, Kayode Olorunmaiye said the deaths were caused by hoodlums.

Five people were also abducted in the oil town of Okrika, Delta State, and dozens of others were injured by machete-wielding youths. The incident was a result of power struggle among top government officials who were trying to impose their candidates on the electorates in the local council elections, scheduled for Aug 10.

The violence sent residents of the town abandoning their homes and fleeing to neighbouring villages for fear of further clashes.

“The current atmosphere (in the town) is tense and there is a siege mentality. Everybody is scared, and people are no longer willing to come out and be identified. The town is almost deserted as a result of the violence,” Nemi Adokiye, a top government official, was quoted by ‘The Guardian’ daily as saying.

He accused “some high-ranking government officials” of arming the “thugs” to abduct and maim ‘innocent’ people in the town.

To combat the culture of violence, armed soldiers were Monday deployed to major entry points in Delta State to check influx of arms and ammunitions ahead of the elections.

Lt-Col Lar Dogo, commander of the Amphibious Brigade based in Delta State, said they were tipped off that some politicians were intending to smuggle arms into the state to cause chaos and confusion during the primaries.

Paul Okoro, a civil servant based in Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, said “political leaders should realise that bribing, rigging and imposing candidates will be resisted by voters”.

“Though there could still be efforts to buy votes, I believe that the electorates will just take their money and vote for candidates they know can improve the lots of the poor,” he says.

For Reverend Martins Iwuanyawu, of Leadership Watch, a Lagos-based non-governmental organisation, “the violence is a warning to the political leadership, who believed it is their birthright to rule, that they cannot continue to impose candidates on the electorates”.

“The political leadership must know that they cannot force themselves on the people,” says Iwuanyawu, whose organisation has embarked on a nation-wide campaign to enlighten voters on their rights.

“Because of greed, some power-drunk politicians would still go on to try and rig elections, but the people must resist them,” he adds.

“The most important thing is for people to say ‘no’ to imposition of candidates. We need to do more of that so those greedy politicians will know that they cannot impose candidates on us. It is a good omen,” he says.

Analysts say the widespread political violence, marring the local council primaries, would not augur well for general elections set for the first quarter of 2003.

Next year’s polls are generally considered a key test for Nigeria’s new democracy, which ended more than 15 years of military rule in 1999.

“No civilian government in Nigeria’s history has conducted general elections successfully, and the turmoil arising from past elections had provided the military with a pretext for seizing power,” according to the UN Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN).