Nigeria’s deadly power game
In spite of the hypotheses that the election was rigged mainly in the South-South and South-East, it seems nobody or institution wants to listen to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). The Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Haliru Bello, sarcastically asked the CPC to produce the evidence of rigging. In the […]
In spite of the hypotheses that the election was rigged mainly in the South-South and South-East, it seems nobody or institution wants to listen to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). The Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Haliru Bello, sarcastically asked the CPC to produce the evidence of rigging. In the same vein, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, asked a rhetoric question: If the votes were rigged, why did the CPC agents sign the return sheets at the collation centres? Apart from the PDP and INEC, the international community has also accepted the outcome of the polls, because international observers say the election was “free and fair”. Perhaps, they, too, understand that politics is a game, whether in Africa or in developed countries, in which contestants break even the rules to win. Apparently, General Muhammadu Buhari, the CPC presidential candidate has been outwitted, the CPC may be sulking in secret, blaming themselves for not putting in place smart agents at various collation centres.
The game was not played at the collation centres alone. Weeks before the elections, there were reports in the media that voter cards were being mopped up by the PDP regime in states where the CPC has large followership. There were reports that in Adamawa, Katsina, Kano, Rivers, Bayelsa, etc, there was a clandestine trade in voter cards. At that time the INEC claimed to be aware of the development, but there was no evidence that security agencies investigated the allegation. The objective of the voter cards trade became clear when, in a place like Kano with total registered voters of about 5.5 million, only about 2 million came out to vote in the presidential election. However, in the stronghold of President Goodluck Jonathan, in Rivers State, with a voting population of about 2 million, as many as 1.8 million came out to vote – for Jonathan. This was in spite of the fact that all newspapers reported low turnout of voters on April 16. The mop up of voter cards in the North was part of the game.
Hours after the National Assembly elections, the previous week, there was a video posting on an online news service. In the video, which was allegedly recorded in Rivers State, a woman was seen thumb printing for a particular candidate. The video was so widely circulated that one would have thought that security agencies would look for the woman at the centre of it, arrest her and commence investigation. Nothing has been heard. What does this tell Nigerians? With multiple thump-printing not being checked, one would begin to wonder why Professor Jega compelled Nigerians to go and line up under the sun for hours and days to do the comprehensive biometric registration? After all the assurances, there was no provision in the system to prevent multiple thumb-printing. This is still part of the game.
Then, hours before the presidential election, there were rumours that the rigging had been completed. How? There were reports that presidential ballot papers had been intercepted by the police at several points, with INEC arguing that some of them were dummies. They had their say, but what was found by journalists on the field was quite different. There were reports that some ballot boxes had been stuffed ahead of the votes. A member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was caught with thumb-printed ballot papers in Bauchi State, and she was nearly killed. At Kuje, in Abuja, there were reports that some NYSC members were being given N50,000 each in order to allow thumb-printed ballot papers to be stuffed in the boxes. It was reported that a youth corps member who refused was threatened with attack by thugs. This still is just a game.
Then there were reports that minister and associates of government were distributing money. An example is the FCT Minister Bala Mohammed whose wife allegedly gave out ‘Jonathan gift’.
The outcome of this game is apparent: the multiple deaths in the Northern part of Nigeria. The fraud orchestrated by the PDP in this game of politics has led to the death of hundreds of Nigerians. President Jonathan had told Nigerians that his ambition was not worth the blood of any Nigerian. But how many people have died in the violence? Not less than 200, considering reports of the massive killings in the Southern part of Kaduna State. The president may argue that he didn’t order the killings, but there is no doubt that it was the rigging of the elections by his party for him that sparked off the riots and the attendant mass killings. In a free and fair election, there wouldn’t be violence. The National Assembly elections the previous week didn’t spark off such angry reaction. There is no way the PDP can explain away this violence. It is not caused by CPC’s supporters alone. The primary cause was the dangerous political game played by the PDP, and they must take responsibility.
The power struggle in 2011 has led to more deaths than one can remember in the contemporary political history of Nigeria. And the most painful aspect of it all is that, when these fraudulent politiciansassume power, they will loot the treasury, instead of developing this country. Politics is a game. But in Nigeria it has become a game of destruction.
Adogo wrote in this piece from Abuja