2023 Polls: How violence became a factor

Forum 1 year ago

2023 Polls: How violence became a factor

THOUGH the 2023 general elections have come and gone, the violence and deaths that rocked the exercises will continue to reverberate around the national discourse.

To violence-free polls, 425,106 security operatives drawn from the police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC; Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC; National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA; Nigerian Correctional Service, NCoS, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC; and the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, were deployed yet casualties were recorded.
Findings by Vanguard revealed that no fewer than 30 persons were killed during the polls.

Related News

• Crude oil exports: Malami allegedly paid $200m as whistleblower fees — Reps

• Eid-il-Fitr: FG declares April 21st, 24th public holidays

• India overtakes China as world’s most populous country

Deaths during Presidential/NASS polls

Two persons were killed in Bikini community ward 12, Emohua Local Government Area, LGA, of Rivers State.
In Dekina, Kogi State, a suspected hoodlum was stabbed to death.
In Edo State, three persons were shot dead.
In Taraba State, a young man was killed.

Governorship/House of Assembly
In Delta, five persons lost their lives at Mosogar and Oghara, in Ethiope West LGA.
In Rivers State, five persons were killed.
In Benue State, six persons were killed at different locations within Gboko LGA.
In Niger, a middle aged man was shot.
In Osun, one person was shot at a polling unit in Ward 4 in Ila-Orangun, Ila LGA.
In Nassarawa, a young man identified as Yunusa Lolo lost his life in Awe LGA.
Suspected thugs in Gudu local government area of Sokoto State shot a voter dead.
Three persons were killed by anti-riot police operatives at Okoita, in Akwa Ibom State.
40 deaths – SBM

However, in a report published by a socio-economic research firm, SBM Intelligence, 13 people were said to have been killed during the presidential election while 27 Nigerians were exterminated during the governorship and House of Assembly polls bringing the total to 40 deaths.

Desperation is a reason – Ubani

Sharing insight on the killings, Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development, Dr Monday Ubani, fingered desperation as a reason.

“You know why? Perks of office. People who win elections in Nigeria become multimillionaires and the system does not have checks and balances. It is not done in developed economies,” he said.

Ubani explained that when a person wins elections in developed countries, “he is likely to go in there rich and come out poor.”

He stressed: “The National Assembly, NASS, doesn’t check the president, the State House of Assembly does not check the governor. The governor has unhindered access to the treasury. So, that is actually what is leading to the desperation by the politicians because they know that when they get in, their lives are changed forever.

“No matter how we amend our laws, no matter how we improve the system as long as we do not address this unhindered access to treasury, the desperation will always be there, and that is why we will never have free and fair elections.”

Ubani said to put an end to the ugly trend, there is a need to deploy more security operatives to the polling units.

“We have to bring the military even though people will tell you that it is a civic thing that should not involve them. I think that if we don’t bring the military to really help in securing the votes of the people, we will keep on having this issue of thugs. It happened in Delta, it happened in Ebonyi, where between four and five persons were killed on election day by those in power,” he concluded.

Illiteracy and greed – Pedro
Speaking on the issue, former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice and Solicitor-General of Lagos State, Mr. Lawal Pedro, SAN, who lamented the number of deaths recorded, said: “Nigeria has refused to learn that it is not by violence that electoral victory can be achieved. I wish we had passed this stage.

“To me, it is illiteracy and greed. The greed of some of the politicians and their followers. It is also because most of those people who contest for elective posts are driven by financial gains. If these positions are not lucrative, people will not kill and maim because they want to serve.

“Most of the people involved in electioneering are unemployed. They have regarded political offices as a means of enrichment and self-aggrandisement. If the positions are not financially attractive, less people will go there without worrying themselves.

“If you want to go to the National Assembly and you are told that it is just the principal officers that would be on salary and the rest will be on an allowance; when going there, you will know that you are already losing something. That is a major factor for violence during elections,” he explained.

Pedro added that NASS needs to amend the laws, saying: “We should reduce the huge amount that we use in servicing the government because we can’t continue to run the government the way we are doing and expect to get something better. The solution lies in that hallowed chamber to see if things are right or wrong in the country. When they do so, they must be able to go through sacrifice, sacrificing part of their comfort for the betterment of Nigeria.”

Narrative must be changed – Obi

On her part, Leader of Situation Room and Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, AAN, Ene Obi, noted that deaths and violence had been anticipated before the elections, saying: “We had a pre-assessment before the election and we shared our reports with INEC and all stakeholders. The violence came and we wondered what really happened.”

Obi stressed that security operatives appeared to have been involved in the scheme, adding that explanations as to how these incidents occurred are yet to be given.

She said: “In some cases, you would find the security people right there or even seem to be part of the violence itself. Explanations have not been given but I think we need to hold people to account for things that they promised to do and were not able to do.

“When you know that there is already a hotspot, you are expected to identify and cover those places. During the presidential and NASS elections, we thought we were going to have some major issues but not as much as what we had during the governorship and State House of Assembly elections where more violence was introduced.

“Voting didn’t happen in certain places, which led to a rerun in 23 states. It is unbelievable and unfortunate. When ambiguities are introduced, it introduces violence and there will be no transparency or accountability.”

Obi, who bemoaned the loss of lives, said the narrative has to be changed.

“No Nigeria needs to lose their lives during elections, and that is why we say we need to change the narrative. The way our youths are being used against their fellow citizens. Politicians are a problem because they are using our young people. They take advantage of the poverty and unemployment that are plaguing the country. We need to change that narrative.

“We have to blame INEC for all of the things that happened. The security system seems to have been compromised because why would ballot boxes be snatched in front of the police? There ought to have been armed people within the perimeter that would be called immediately. We need more commitment from our stakeholders.

“We try to follow up on those caught. You know we have limitations as well. Sometimes, we are told that they have transferred the case to different places. Nigeria is a country where impunity is allowed to continue, which is very unfortunate,” she added.

Laws must be reviewed – Adejobi

Shedding light, Force Public Relations Officer, FPRO, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, explained that an unarmed policeman defending a polling unit would find it difficult to repel thugs.

He said: “The police are at the polling units unarmed. If thugs come around, they will look because it is better for them to look and allow them to carry whatever they want to carry than killing uniformed men and INEC officials.

“There are some people grooming these thugs and unleashing them on people, they should be blamed because if everything is normal, it will go through the natural process and there will be less stress on INEC and security agencies.”

Adejobi, who proposed a way forward, added that the laws guiding the electoral process must be reviewed.

He said: “Laws are meant to always be reviewed as long as a society is dynamic. Even with the introduction of the Bimodal Verification Accreditation System, BVAS, there is still political thuggery. We will continue to review our laws until we get to that promised land.

“It is not normal to record any casualty because the soul of every Nigerian is important to us, nobody is happy that a soul is lost because of an election. However, the fact is that there are people who are responsible for these killings – thugs vs thugs, intra-party and inter-party crises. If not that security operatives are victims too, the allegations used to be on the police and other security agencies.

“Our laws must be reviewed and there must be proper sanctions. INEC should prosecute electoral offenders, not the police and we can only give them our support. We need to have a speedy trial, there must be a precedent of sanctioning people who are involved in these things because if it is not done, they will assume that it is a normal thing and it will become a tradition done with impunity.”

Adejobi stressed that no fewer than 400 persons have been arrested for election crimes, saying: “Many of them are on bail because we can’t keep them. We have compiled our case files and we are forwarding our case files to INEC for necessary action.
“We can only be prosecution witnesses while the INEC leads the prosecution. We have done what we should and we will do more to support INEC to have proper prosecution.

“Those that have been arrested or caught in the act are the ones with whom we are dealing. If the investigation reveals that there are people sponsoring them, we will go for those ones.”