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We are in the rainy season. Forecast of the weather helps one to navigate the journeys in order not to be trapped on our flooded roads as a result of poor management of our environment and the issue of erosion. There’s the allegation that in Abuja, illegal approvals were given to builders to build on green areas, along designated drainage waterways and gutters, making flooding inevitable. The green areas are declared to be the lungs of the city without which the city cannot breathe and will choke to death. This is why the residents of FCT are being choked to death due to poor management of the environment. Whenever a people are lawless, forecast becomes very important to help the good ones prepare in advance on how to tackle the evil ones. It is like forewarning someone, which is meant to forearm the person.
As we approach the 2027 general elections, the violent rhetoric emitting from the All Progressives Congress (APC) is becoming alarming, worrisome, and very disheartening. It portends danger to the survival of our democracy and our nation. According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Executive Secretary, Chief Tony Ojukwu, SAN, “history has shown that such rhetoric often begins with words and ends in blood.” He warned that political rhetoric that creates an “us versus them” environment could escalate into violence, particularly as the country approaches another highly contested election cycle. He boasted that “the NHRC will therefore not wait for it to escalate.” In this regard he submitted and rightly too that “no council chairman, governor or even the president has the constitutional power to banish Nigerians from their communities because of their political affiliation or opinions.” Well said. The question is what can a determined NHRC do in the face of unrepentant violent ruling party that has no respect for rule of law?
The alarm raised by the NHRC was not made in a vacuum. In fact, the President of Nigeria set the stage for this unfortunate marathon of violent rhetoric that may graduate from mere words to blood if not immediately checked. Addressing the Catholic Bishops who went to pay him a visit and to plead with him to provide a level playing field for all the opposition parties in 2027, Tinubu declared “all is fair in politics.” He assured them that he would wrestle the opposition opponents to the ground.
This statement seemed to open the pandora box and sent a direct message to APC members that the only duty they have in 2027 election is to wrestle their opponents to the ground. The whistle was blown for the 2027 election, unfortunately, not by the referee of elections in Nigeria, which is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but by a partisan President who is at the helm of affairs with the levers of power in his pocket and who had expressly and previously declared, “power is not served a la carte, you fight for it, you grab it, you snatch it, and you run away with it.”
The declaration of Tinubu infected his APC followers faster than the diphtheria disease that is currently ravaging and massacring Nigerians owing to the decrepit state of our health care infrastructure and the brain drain happening in the health sector that has seen the doctors and nurses run away from Nigeria in search of greener pastures abroad.
In the build-up to the Osun State gubernatorial election, borrowing a clue from Tinubu’s statement, Senator Francis Fadahunsi of Osun APC openly threatened the lives of the opposition members who dared come out to vote for opposition parties in the 15 August election. In his own words in Yoruba language he said: “From now on, whenever you see Accord members, kill them. I authorise you to kill them. They have wives and children too. This is a Federal Government election. On election day, even if they come with voters card, we wont allow them to vote.” Tinubu’s wrestling statement graduated to killing statement in Fadahunsi’s campaign rhetoric.
The Senator referred to the election as Federal Government election, not the people’s election. He imposed death penalty on people simply by their membership of a political party. He criminalised membership of an opposition party, became the lawmaker, prosecutor and the judge, condemned the members of the party, and ordered their execution. This is scary. Till date he has not been prosecuted for this.
Tinubu’s intimidating tactic against the opposition infected the Governor of Ebonyi State, Francis Nwifuru. In a statement in Abakiliki, the state capital, during the inauguration of the new chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the State’s 13 Local Government Areas, Nwifuru declared that any chairman who fails to win his council for the APC in 2027 will be removed from office and replaced with a councillor. He even boasted that “I want this information to be on the headlines of newspapers because, as politicians, we would not speak in secret.”
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The audacity of the governor in declaring that his illegal command that local government chairmen should forcibly intimidate voters to vote for APC or be removed should make headlines on national dailies is mind-boggling and showcases the level of impunity of APC violent rhetoric.
The bug of Nwifuru’s command soon caught up with his newly sworn-in Chairman of Ohaukwu LGA of Ebonyi State, Eze Paul Ituma, who warned opposition political parties and their supporters against engaging in political activities in the area ahead of the 2027 general elections. Ituma issued the warning saying that anyone who attempted to operate against his political interests could be declared persona non grata. In his words, “this is the time for politics. I don’t have a shop at the International Market; politics is my business. Anyone who wants to put sand in my garri should not come close to Ohaukwu.”
It is really ridiculous that someone will openly confess to being a political jobber whose only business is politics. Even power in a democracy was deliberately made to be temporary and transient to reveal that a politician should have other professions and businesses that could sustain him or her when he is out of office. The scarier part is that he is prepared to forcefully eject from his local government, and forcefully restrict the entrance of any person into his local government who is not singing “on the mandate of APC he/she stands.”
There was another disturbing video of the Kebbi State Governor Dr Nasir Gwandu publicly talking about a fight and chaos regarding the 2027 elections for those who refuse to vote APC in 2027. The governor is the Chief Security Officer of the state. For a governor of a state to threaten fire and brimstone against his people simply because they will vote the opposition parties or opponents fits the description of the APC, by a Canadian Court, as a terrorist organisation, not a political party.
Even the Federal Capital Territory is not spared this political infectious diphtheria and diarrhoea of the mouth of APC violent rhetoric that has become airborne and transmitted from one APC member and leader to the other. In a video that is now viral, Chairman of Kuje Area Council, Hon. Samuel Danjuma Shekwolo, was heard saying that residents must either support the APC or leave the Area Council, adding that he would not accept opposition to the party during the 2027 election.
The rhetoric is both criminal and malicious and portend grave danger to our democracy and our nation. They offend the provisions of the Constitution, Electoral Act 2026, the Penal Code and the Cybercrimes Act dealing with discrimination, threats, intimidation, incitement and communications capable of causing public disorder. The 1999 Constitution, in sections 39, 40, 41 and 42, guarantees citizens’ freedom of association, assembly, movement and protection from discrimination on the basis of political opinion. Section 97 of the Electoral Act, 2026 states that “a party, candidate, aspirant, or person or group of persons shall not directly or indirectly threaten any person with the use of force or violence during any political campaign in order to compel that person or any other person to support or refrain from supporting a political party or candidate. A political party, candidate, aspirant, person or group of persons that contravenes the provisions of this section commits an offence and is liable on conviction, in the case of a candidate, aspirant, or person or group of persons, to a maximum fine of N5,000,000 or imprisonment for a term of 12 months; and in the case of a political party, to a fine of N10,000,000 in the first instance, and N2,000,000 for any subsequent offence.”
The relevant security agencies should immediately arrest and prosecute all the APC members, and indeed everyone, who is directly or indirectly threatening any person with the use of force or violence during any political campaign in order to compel that person or any other person to support or refrain from supporting a political party or candidate.
The international community, in line with all these threats, with the President playing the lead role, must unanimously declare Nigeria a country of particular concern and send unequivocal message to the Nigerian government that free, fair, and credible elections in 2027 is uncompromisable and violators of the electoral laws will not be tolerated and would be tried by international criminal courts where local courts fail, neglect, or refuse to assume jurisdiction.
Nigerians must not be intimidated by the violence of the bad people, because it is only the silence of the good ones that will permit them to prevail. If the violent people would be so determined to commit crimes against our democracy for selfish acquisition of power and wealth which they know would lead them to hell, how much more would the good men demonstrate equal zeal to confront and defeat them because they are assured of heaven being that their intention is to ensure the building of a great nation where everyone would enjoy the blessings of God which He blessed Nigeria with! We shall overcome.
