Nigerians are under siege by their own government. Millions of Nigerians are political prisoners in their own country. The “political jackals” ruling Nigeria have turned the whole country into a mass “concentration camp.” Their word is law and the rule of law meant nothing. Elections count for nothing! Accountability means how much they can steal from the coffers of government while the generality of the masses groan and grope in darkness. And now, a new twist by the new fangled “PDP-o-crazy,” it is called political “thuggerism”.
In the dying days of the second republic, one of the vaunted policies of the ruling elites then, particularly with Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria, is the use of thugs by politicians as entourage and cavalcade of motorcades filled with motor parks tout carrying cudgels, machetes and guns. The politicians of the second republic knew then that they are not governing the people by consent of the majority. It is as if they have reached a point when they realized the charade they called democracy no longer stands any credibility, albeit with their stolen mandate. They knew they lacked every modicum of legitimacy so they have to force the people to respect their power.
This is exactly where we are now, with our hard won democracy. We lost, they won! And now, they will not stop at the subjugation and subversion of democracy, they want to show us they are lords. Lords over our lives with a maniacal thirst and hunger for violence the worst of the Khmer Rouge goons will envy. Pick up any newspapers in Nigeria and you are bound to found a news report about an attack on Nigerian civilian masses that happens to cross paths with PDP politician’s motorcade and thugs.
In Ekiti, we read recently about how the governor of Ekiti state, his wife, “hangers on” and thugs personally arrested some journalist and bloggers monitoring the state during election and subjected them to slaps, violence and humiliation for daring to challenge their hold on power. And now, we read about the savage attack on the chairman of DHL, Otunba Ade Raheem Kolawole by the thug installed by PDP as chairman of Ilesa-West Local Government Council Area of Osun State. This by the way, is not the first time Mr. Fadipe had wantonly attacked the citizens, he sworn to defend and protect. And incase anyone thinks Fadipe is acting alone, just take a look at this excerpts from a news paper in Osun State, the “Osun Defender” on where Mr. Fadipe got his marching orders from:
“According to investigation conducted by OSUN DEFENDER on the alleged atrocities
by Fadipe during the week, the embattled politician was gallivanting around in
violence because he thought that Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola was enjoying his
hostility against his people. Premising his action on the defence of the
embattled governor who suffered a political defeat in Ijesaland during the last
year’s controversial governorship election in the state, Fadipe believed that
the state helmsman, and his deputy who hails from Ijesaland would always shield
him even in the face of raw violence against his people. Meanwhile, records of
bloody political violence in Ilesa have been traced to Fadipe; but managed to
sail through from the long arm of the law, because of the suspected authority
backing. Thinking that he had secured a license for the monopoly of violence,
the rattled politician then constituted himself into a jungle-law, visiting
unguarded anger on the career officers and council workers at any slight
disagreement.”
The message from PDP here is simple, “if you vote for us, we don’t care, we will win anyway. If you don’t vote for us, we will still win and then come after you with our thugs; we will installed that thug as your local government chairman or governor and then use them to unleash terror on your community.” Is this the democracy my friends and colleagues died for at Great Ife? Is this what we bargained for when we fought against military misrule?
The tale of bloodsheds and brigandage by PDP abounds all over Nigeria, from Anambra intra-party bloody duels to the war of cousins in Niger state, the fratricidal conflicts in Sokoto and of course, the upcoming presidential elections “tsunami”. It is evident that our dear country is in serious dire straits.
What with the economy at it’s lowest ebb since the days of SAP and austerity measures, an absentee presidency, a government runs by corrupt ex-governors and their retained counsel, who by the way, happens to be the attorney general of the federation, the ship of state of Nigeria is indeed heading for dangerous waters!
This is why I called on all well meaning, Nigerians at home and abroad to take one final stand for democracy during this upcoming presidential election. Yes, there will be violence, and yes the election will not count as the enemies of Nigeria enjoy the status quo! We can still make the difference by joining the pro-democracy forces within and outside Nigeria. If you are a Nigerian abroad, write a letter to your congressman and let him or her know that one out of every 4 black people is a Nigerian and if the next election is again allowed to be stolen by marauder in PDP, we may have a crisis of monumental proportion that will eclipse west and central Africa. The refugee crisis that may follow another Nigerian civil war will surely bankrupt the entire world economies. The whole world needs to act now, to forestall another Nigerian internecine civil war!
They need to insist on a transparent electoral commission whose chairman is nominated by the Chief Justice of the Federation. An Electoral commission with representatives from pro-democracy groups and other interest groups in Nigeria is imperative. The United States and other democratic country need to make it known to Aso rock that violence as a form of governing is antithetical to democracy. They need to insist that free and fair elections are prerequisite to democracy. The war on the Nigerian people by PDP must stop now!
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