Political violence in Nigeria is nothing new as it has always been a feature of our electoral process well before Independence in 1960. As a matter of fact, the history of the electoral process in which competition for power is organised along party lines has never been peaceful or minimally civil as contestants are wont to deploy tools and mechanisms similar to those of military warfare into their campaign strategies wherein each party seeks to undo the other(s) by all means possible, whether fair or unfair, decent or not, just because as they say: “all is fair in war.”
The only real tactical difference between political contestations and miliary engagements is that, whereas military men in battle are conventionally restrained to their arsenals of lawful munitions and other weaponry under military laws and established “rules of engagement”, political warfare on the other hand, is principally persecuted through uncouth demagoguery loaded with lies, mischiefs, insults and character assassinations and, in extreme cases, aggravated by unregulated physical violence involving the fiendish deployment of thugs with weapons that are similar to those normally permitted in wars conducted by professional military men.
The ability of political gladiators to combine the traditional arsenal of war with non-kinetic tools of blackmail, ethical bombardments, backbiting and character assassination make political battles more deadly, more permanently destructive than physical battles fought largely at defined battle grounds, with fairly regulated weaponry strictly subject to the superintending prescriptions of the Laws of War as articulated in the Geneva Conventions on Wars.
Because of the low level of morality involved in partisan politicking, not many honourable men and women are well disposed to entering politics, a reality which then creates the opportunity for miscreants and never-do-wells to easily dominate the political terrain.
When people complain that democracy has been corrupted beyond recognition, it is precisely this kind of horrible and dirty environments which enable political processes characterised as “democracy” to bring out the worst in people and then proceed to elevate such undesirables to higher levels of leadership and dominance; they are specifically pointing at this moral anomaly wherein idiots and shameless liars are routinely “elected” into political offices. Such could not have been the original intention of the Greeks when they invented the system that prescribes governments of the people, by the people and for the people, without considering whether or not that the people themselves are ignorant, simple-minded and pliable.
The extreme high-wire and unreasonable expectations that go with electioneering in Nigeria where they promise heaven and earth often generate unhealthy scenarios of violence and the “do or die” mentality to electioneering characterised by needless acrimonies, self-serving debates calculated to incite unnecessary antagonism, contrived hatred and mutual bloodletting. In this business, there is no place for truth, honesty, decency and justice. Political “contests” are often confused with actual military confrontations because the vocabulary of politics is unduly vulgar and offensive as political parties do not just win elections, they rather “capture,” “defeat” and “overrun” their opponents just like it is often said in military confrontations where Truth is usually the first casualty.
Since all wars typically begin with mere words, it is easy to understand why there will always be tension and violence in our politics: the preferred language of electioneering is exceedingly harsh, belligerent and unduly provocative. Now with the advent of the ubiquitous and anonymous Social Media, the drumbeats of war emanating from the uncontrolled cyberspace, sleepless talk show hosts and irresponsible TV spin doctors are getting louder and louder by the day while rationally articulated values and ideology-driven debates are fast giving way to uncivilized hecklings and followed by vile suppression of opposing viewpoints in the mainstream media.
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History scholars of the Nigerian Civil War have generally reasoned that, with a little bit of verbal civility and mutual respect in the discourses amongst parties, that unfortunate war, from which we have still not fully recovered, could have been avoided.
Whenever, for example, a member of an identifiable group unfairly denigrates and maligns persons belonging to other groups in the name of partisan politics, it ought to be expected that some unpleasant reactions would someday come from those being so openly maligned. It is therefore more appropriate for us to be looking at the causes of violence at our elections rather than bemoaning its effects because it is usually the case of causes and effects.
Those who complain about violence during elections in Nigeria are either too naïve not to know that every evil sound generates its own evil echoes somewhere or they are just too self-centered to think that they alone can forever provoke, malign and taunt others without any form of retaliation coming their ways and, like UNESCO rightly points out in its (1945) establishing Preamble, “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” It is therefore very important that politicians and their surrogates weigh the words carefully because whatever they say on the soapbox could lead to violence amongst their emotionally charged supporters.
There is no telling that when elections are conducted with so much venomous disposition and bitterness, we are only preparing the grounds for war. With the extreme verbal attacks and abuses which usually precede our elections, not to expect violence would just be playing the ostrich. Another major factor influencing the frequency and magnitude of political violence these days is the existence of several private armies, cults, professional thugs, juju men and prayer men of all hues, readily available for cheap hire.
The larger blame however should go to those “leaders” who willfully mislead their people, whether on the campaign trail or at supposedly religious or ethnic gatherings, within internet chatrooms buzzling with WhatsApp fraternities and others echo chambers of grievances or for misguided triumphal musings. They indoctrinate their robotic followers into believing that it is either their anointed candidate wins or there will be a bloodbath.
It is sad to note that religious bodies have also enlisted in the partisan mischiefs as prayer sessions are now held just to rain curses against opposing candidates but luckily, they’re not God. With such a misguided spiritual partiality, they falsely prophesy victories “assured in Heaven” for their preferred candidates. Whenever such partisan predictions become unrealizable, they suddenly go gaga and anything, including violence, could then be used to assuage their frustration.
There is the lingering apprehension that violence is becoming a veritable alternative route to political power. The lessons for us today are: (a) violence will always attend our elections as long as we continue to see politics as a “do or die” money-making enterprise (b), until our politics is played along ideological lines involving serious intellectual debates about genuine developmental issues, violence and brute force shall painfully remain with us.
The next occasion for political violence is Edo State, where the leading parties are actively assembling their arsenal of political warfare in preparation for the September 21, 2024 governorship election – the D-Day. The drumbeat of war that is going on there right now should give all men of goodwill strong reasons to be apprehensive. I am a proud Edo son and a significant stakeholder for that matter but I have so far restrained myself from dabbling into the menace brewing there.
If we eventually avoid more bloodshed this time around, it would not be because the principal gladiators did not desire it or because of the so called “Peace Accord” which was openly undermined well before it was even drawn up as a key element in the imbroglio, the PDP, has defiantly declined to append its signature. It would only therefore be as result of the fact that the tired and exhausted good people of Edo state have refused to continue fighting the unnecessary war being so shameslessly promoted by their so-called politicians if things eventually go peacefully. The looming prospects are thus as frightening as they are shameful.
