I
had made up my mind not to write any piece relating to politics this
week. Partly because I wanted a breather from all things political, as
Nigeria gets closer and closer to the appointed time for the 2015
elections. But, you know how it is; man proposes, God disposes. As soon
as you look away for a moment in these times, something else happens
that you simply cannot ignore, which is exactly what happened to me this
week.
Many Lagosians will not forget in a hurry, the
protests by the previously dormant Oodua People’s Congress, a Yoruba
ethnic militia group based in the South West, and the so called
Coalition of Concerned Nigerians against the Independent National
Electoral Commission Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, last Monday, because
of what they claimed was the poor distribution of the Permanent Voter
Cards in the South among other issues. The faction of the OPC which
carried out the protest was seen brandishing weapons such as guns,
machetes and knives, harassing motorists and pedestrians as they
disrupted traffic in major parts of Lagos, particularly on Ikorodu Road,
where they destroyed any campaign poster of certain political parties
in their path.
It is also important to note
that the other day, there were protests by the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Sovereign State of Biafra in Awka, Anambra State.
They were also calling for the resignation of the INEC chairman and
rejecting the use of card readers in the forthcoming elections. Could
this be a coincidence? Or, the last ditch efforts of a sinking
government to ensure enough confusion in the land and hassle a good
number of the populace into voting the President for a second term. The
President met with the leaders of the OPC in Lagos in a calculated move
to secure their votes and those of their members and less than four days
after the meeting, the streets of Lagos knew no peace, thanks to the
group. The Yoruba proverb, “The witch cried yesterday, and the baby died
today…” readily comes to mind and rings so true in this scenario. Yet,
the leader of the faction of the OPC group that executed the protest
claimed that it was non- partisan! When it was clearly a pro Jonathan
rally. If the OPC is truly non-partisan, why didn’t the protest take
place at any other random time or before the President’s alleged
largesse?
It is a well-known fact that politicians employ
different strategies and tricks during the politicking period in a bid
to woo the electorate to vote for them. However, when a politician of
the stature of the President who is still battling terror caused by a
militant group in a section of the country decides of his own accord to
“resurrect” another militant group (who also have a bit of a violent
history, but by some miracle have been mostly reduced to playing the
role of security guards in residential areas of the South-West) by
engaging them for whatever purpose, then there is a big problem and we
all might just be sitting on a time bomb which will explode sooner than
later. It was not enough that the OPC was awarded a lucrative contract
worth billions of naira to secure crude oil pipelines in the South-West,
the group had to be used as agents for fomenting trouble all because of
the desperation of one man to cling to power at all costs!
At
this stage, the President should be aware that the die is all but cast.
Most people know who they are going to vote for come Saturday, and no
amount of coercion will change most minds that have already been made
up. Trying to win votes by intimidation or violence will always be a
move in the wrong direction. It is rather sad that the one who should be
aware of this the most appears to be too desperate to care. With Boko
Haram still proving to be a huge mountain to surmount despite the
relative success of the Nigerian Army in tackling them in recent times,
and the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta as an ever present
threat to national peace should President Jonathan lose the March 28
election, it is foolhardy and portends no good for anyone to wake a
sleeping dog, which in this case is the OPC who have been generally
quiet and peaceful in the last few years.
Mr President may just
regret this costly mistake he has made by frolicking with the ethnic
militia group if he wins the election, as he will have to deal with the
monster he helped create…or in this case re-create.
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