Ondo guber polls and the beats of war

TUESDAY August 16, 1983 is already playing on the minds of many people in Ondo State. On that day, three decades ago, bands of thugs, in what the victims described as premeditated violence hatched by politicians, took to the streets of Akure and other cities, killing and maiming. Prominent members of the opposition camp were hunted down and murdered in cold blood and in one blood-curdling instance; the severed head of an opposition leader was put on a stake and carried in a dance-like manner to the music of a taunting crowd.

The scars of that blind fury are still noticeable in rubbles that were once residential buildings, homes of prominent citizens, and of course in the hearts of the voters. The violence, which also resulted in the torching of hundreds of buildings and destruction of properties worth millions of naira, was sparked-off by the announcement that the opposition National Party of Nigeria (NPN) had won in an electoral contest with the incumbent Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).

A pointer to the fact that the mayhem could have been premeditated was the burning to death of an opposition politician on the eve of the election in Ondo town. The incident was aired repeatedly on state television apparently to prepare the ground for the mayhem that was unleashed 72 hours later. The violence was unprecedented, perhaps only matching its regional harbinger, the Wild, Wild, West of more than a decade earlier.

Although the incongruity was remedied via a tribunal judgment a few weeks later, the significance of the incident in the identity of a people as a defiant lot in the face of injustice has been etched in the state’s contemporary political history.

Worried by the fallouts of the mayhem, traditional rulers, religious and community leaders, after several fence-mending meetings, which in many instances were unsuccessful in calming frayed nerves, resolved that never again will their state be made a theatre of war on account of partisan politics.

The resolution not to reenact the 1983 carnage may well be the reason in the aftermath of the 2007 governorship election that made the people endure the 22-month long litigation rather than take the laws into their hands.

But as the state prepares for another election, political gladiators, the same people saddled with the maintenance of public sanity seem to be the ones preparing the grounds for an outbreak of violence with the incessant speculations over violence. This is seen in many quarters as part of the unfolding political intrigues, which is already heating up the polity. They also unleashed fear on the electorate through the manipulation of some media organisations, particularly the broadcast media, which now act as mouthpieces and have taken partisan stands in the interest of their proprietors.

Incidentally, the speculations of preparations for war, which in most of the cases are unsubstantiated, are rife in the camps of the ruling Labour Party (LP) and the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ha smanaged to carve the image of a “peaceful party” as it has tried to stay away from the fray.

A fortnight ago, the ACN accused the LP government of stockpiling ammunition. In a statement on behalf of the ACN candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu, the Director of Media, Idowu Ajanaku stated that the ACN was bringing “the attention of the good people of Ondo to the latest plot by the LP to rig the forthcoming governorship elections in the state. The latest of such move is the importation of arms and ammunition into the state capital, Akure. These comprise over 100 AK47 rifles, machetes, shot guns and other dangerous weapons.

“Also the Mimiko administration has started the training of thugs at different locations across the state. These are the people he relies heavily on to foment trouble in order to create chaos during the October 20 governorship elections.

“Besides, plans are on top gear to bring a large number of mercenaries from Igbira land, his ancestral roots, to come and complement the thugs that are already undergoing training in the state. Against this background, we call on the security agents to investigate this and quickly arrest this situation in order to avoid chaos in the state, The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) will not fold its hands while the members are subject to attacks. We are a peace loving political party as we dwelt more on ideas rather than using violence as a tool for political gain.”

In an earlier statement, the LP in a statement by the spokesman of the Mimiko Campaign Organisation Kolawole Olabisi accused the ACN of planning to invade the state with trained thugs from neigbouring Osun State. He claimed that the hoodlums would be made to wear vests made in LP colours to create the false impression that the ruling party is putting the state under siege.

It alleged further that many political leaders including those of LP and those who belong to the opposing side in the ACN, have been marked for assassination and that the deed would be done in such a way that accusing fingers would be pointed to the incumbent government.

The allegations came on the heels of others by the State Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade, that the ACN had amassed a war chest of a whopping N20 billion to prosecute the Ondo election with a determination “to win by hook or by crook.”

Last weekend, another dimension was added to the allegations when Olabisi accused the ACN of employing spiritual warfare to prosecute the Ondo poll with the engagement of a spiritualist to use metaphysical means to change the attitude of the people to Mimiko.

Olabisi, who specifically fingered the Osun governor, Rauf Aregbesola as the alleged point man in the diabolical act, said Aregbesola “has hired the services of an Iwo fiery cleric, Sheik Dauda who is currently to wreck havoc in Ondo by planting fetish substances in major towns in Ondo.

“Aregbesola, who is the arrowhead of the onslaught against the Mimiko administration in Ondo and had in recent times publicly vowed to capture Ondo for his ACN, contacted the Iwo born Moslem cleric who is reputed to be behind the training of some Moslem hard men in Osun to carry out several nocturnal sacrifices in Ondo, Owo, Ikare, Akure and Okitipupa with a view to turning the hearts of the people of the state against Mimiko spiritually.

“The fetish sacrifices for which the cleric had been paid a whopping N25 million are to be carried out on or before September 10, barely a month to the October 20 governorship election in the state. Dauda, who variously goes by appellations such as Abdulkaq, Ajagbemokeferi, is a leader of a notorious Moslem sect in Iwo and he was fingered in the secret training of some of his members for the alleged secession bid of Aregbesola in Osun, a development which made him to be on the wanted list of security operatives.

“We are aware of the various underhand deals by these desperate politicians in their avowed but futile bid to rule Ondo. The first was the instigation of an unprecedented level of violence in the state ostensibly to cow the people and scare them to submission before the election. The next was numerous campaigns of calumny against the person of Mimiko.

“And when these failed, they resorted to spiritual warfare, resorting to sacrifices of fetish objects, which they want to bury in major towns in the state to bind the mind of the people against their beloved governor who has taken the state to heights hitherto unimagined in the state.”

As politicians continue raising the temperature of the polity through their revelations everyday, the police and other security agencies are battling to handle the situation and assure the citizens of a violence-free poll.

Spokesman of the Ondo Police Command, Adeniran Aremu, said although many different allegations and accusations are received on daily basis “the police is on top of the situation and every step is being taken to have an election devoid of violence.”

He however warned politicians to desist from acts that are capable of creating unnecessary apprehension among the people saying, “people should be encouraged to exercise their rights. You cannot have an all-embracing election when people are being scared from exercising their civic duties.”

He however assured of the determination of the police to investigate any allegation of threats to peace made by the politicians against one another, “no matter how ludicrous because you never know with some of these things, you may think it is a hoax and it can turn out to be real.”

As part of police preparedness, a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Rahman Akano, was deployed to the state. On assumption, he held a parley with politicians and assured them that the Police would allow a level playing field for all politicians.

He also used the meeting, which was attended by all heads of security agencies in the state to address allegations of partiality against the State Commissioner of Police who was accused by the opposition parties to be favouring the ruling party in his handling of security issues.