“Must it be a do-or-die affair? Do not kill yourselves because of public office. Stop the shootings. This is the worst scenario”
– The Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, at a peace parley called to douse the pre-election tension in Edo state, The Nation, Thursday, September 3, 2020.
Even by the standards of Nigeria’s notoriously intense and violent elections, the run-up to the Edo State governorship election, barely a fortnight away, must be considered exceptional in the level of vandalism and inter-party violence. The opening quote sourced from the Benin monarch who called a peace meeting, earlier this week, speaks for itself. Oba Ewuare II is not the only one who has been decrying the way in which the state has been turned into a pitched battlefield featuring high-tech thuggery and relentless baiting of and assaults on political opponents. Earlier in the week, for example, YIAGA Africa, an election monitoring group, issued a preliminary report on the pre-election period under the revealing and evocative title, ’2020 Edo Election: An Election defined by Strongman Tactics and Violence’. The report lamented that the pre-election period has been characterised by ‘violent, verbal and physical attacks, hate speech, identity-based violence’ and things of that nature. From the forcible removal of opponents’ campaign posters through name-calling at campaign rallies to vandalism and the burning of the houses of targeted political opponents and wanton deployment of thugs, the period has been one long nightmare for the citizens of the state.
True, pre-election and electoral violence have been on the rise for some years now. Fresh in our memory is the spate of violent attacks, arson and loss of lives that characterised last year’s election in Kogi State and others before it, nonetheless, the Edo hostilities with attendant loss of lives and property have reached a new high. Hopefully, the reconciliatory meeting called at the instance of Oba Ewuare II will have some effects in restraining the comportment and loose cannon behaviour of the principal combatants and their supporters. If this does not happen and if the violence continues to intensify, then we may be in for a very troubled election on September 19. Part of the problem, undoubtedly, is the do-or-die conflict between the immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole and his estranged godson, Governor Godwin Obaseki. It would appear that the two of them, as well as their parties consider this to be the definitive battle of their lives and political careers, and have gone on to deploy tactics in this order.
Regrettably, however, and as the YIAGA Africa Report observed, the campaign has been far less about issues than about personalities. In a sense, what we’re witnessing is the demystification of Nigerian politics, as far as ideological and ideational perspectives are concerned. Obaseki, only a few months ago, an aspirant under the APC, is campaigning as the standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, as if nothing has changed. His arch-rival, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu was in 2016, the candidate of the PDP, when he engaged in a very acrimonious fight with his new benefactor and god-father, Oshiomhole. In the current tussle, he has metamorphosed inspite of a subsisting case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, into the candidate of the APC. So, the game is stripped of all pretenses to any lofty ideals and we are faced with the familiar lust for office, not necessarily as a redemptive enterprise but for the opportunities it confers to allocate, as well as amass resources.
Had the race been a little elevated, and if enduring issues are being canvassed, perhaps, what has become a reign of terror, unleashed by thugs and arsonists, would have been moderated by those very ideals. It is a shame that even the cautionary remark by the Independent National Electoral Commission to declare a state of emergency if the state of violence spirals has failed to produce the expected effect of remonstrance on the part of the gladiators, who in rhetoric and activities carry on like fighters in the projected battle of Armageddon. There is the issue that despite the tough talk by the police and other security agencies, very few people have actually been brought to book in a frightening escalation in which one act of violence by one of the major political parties appears to cancel out a reprisal or another act of violence. In other words, the politicians have written their own rules and are operating by a bizarre standard of justice in which counter-violence excuses an act of violence. Were this to be a system informed by law and order, and for that matter, good governance, it would have been demonstrated that no one is above the law and that being a party loyalist or promoter does not excuse one from obeying the laws of the land. Instead of inundating the public with predictable details of the level of preparation by the police, it would be helpful if particular attention is paid to what the YIAGA Africa Report has called, ‘potential hotspots and flashpoints of violence’. These include: Etsako West; Etsako East; Etsako Central; Owan West; and Akoko-Edo in Edo North Senatorial District. The fact that widely reported acts of violence have taken place in these areas suggests their susceptibility during the election period to further acts of violence.
As a country, we must somehow find a way to live down our reputation as a people for whom elections are another codename for the outbreak of war. COVID-19 apart, it is conceivable, as some have suggested, that the widespread affrays may lead to low voter turnout as many voters will shrink from the prospect of being caught in the cross-fire between armed rival political groups. Troubling too is the fact that Edo State, which earned a good reputation for adroitly managing the pandemic challenge has, in the wake of the campaign, lowered its guards to the point where safety protocols are being brazenly flouted. This is like putting the electorate in double jeopardy, in which those who are not caught in the frying pan of violent exchanges may regrettably succumb to the loose regulatory regime regarding the pandemic. INEC, the political parties and civil society should, in this connection, redouble efforts that would elicit adherence to the safety guidelines issued by the electoral commission. On a broader note, we seem to have dulled our sensibilities, as far as COVID-19 is concerned by the convenient illusion that the pandemic is rapidly on its way out. As its rebound in some European countries suggests, we cannot be too vigilant in maintaining safety requirements which are bound to be tested to their limits in an election season.
If the Edo election goes well, it will exercise a domino effect on the Ondo election, which is also around the corner. It is time that states began to compete for sound ideals and mark-ups in good governance in a way in which other states will competitively seek to beat their records. What we have now is a negative trend setting in which states that ought to set good examples major in the dark underside of political behaviour. The clarion call has gone out to Edo citizens to reverse the unfortunate trend.
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