By Denrele Animasaun

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King Jr

Violence and politics seem to go hand in hand, at least in Nigeria, it does. People have come to expect mayhem and disorder in the run up to any election and the youths are paid to carry out these dastardly activities by the politicians.

Our youths, for a good part of the life of a government, are starved of genuine opportunities; no employment, no education or training. And then come campaign time; the politicians sprinkle slush money and they unleash the beasts; rent a yob, area boys and thugs. These yobs are given money and weapons to intimidate the opposition and ordinary citizens. They create fear and fan terror so that people are prevented from performing their constitutional obligations.

None of the political parties are innocent and there is no need for any party to pretend that they do not parttake in this deplorable acts. It is the modus operandi of politics in Nigeria. After the election, these hoodlums now have weapons and notoriety to pillage and extort from homes and businesses until the next political campaign when they can repeat the whole horror again. Adewale Maja-Pearce, writer and columnist said; “Politics in Nigeria has always been thuggish, right from 1960, the year of independence from Britain, and the so-called Area Boy scourge is a merely a symptom of a larger national unemployment crisis, where young men with few opportunities view politicians as a meal ticket”. The finger of blame should be placed at the paymasters’ feet; All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and these yobs will raise merry hell for a price that the politicians are willing to pay.

FILE PHOTO: Police Officers Shooting Tear Gas to dispel protesters

Maja-Pearce said that “too many young men hanging around, waiting for some action. All you have to do is go and meet them and pay them and they will do what you want, and you can’t blame the youths… They want to eat.”

So you see, once the Pandora box is open, it is hard to wish it back in. Our politicians capitalise on this and they pay these yobs to create an atmosphere of intimidation and dread. The world and its councils are aware and have anticipated this pattern of behaviour.The United States vice president, Mr. Joe Biden, like a referee has had a telephone conversation with President Goodluck Jonathan and his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Gen. Muhamadu Buhari, and has appealed to both to make the coming election violence free.

In his separate conversation with both men, he stated that the US was greatly concerned over indications that the elections might be filled with violence due to inflammatory statements coming from both the ruling and the major opposition parties in the country. He did commend the two leaders for signing an accord committed to a nonviolent election. And he affirmed the total support of the government of his country for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure the elections are free, fair and credible. Whatever happened to the pre-election pep talk, should we take it that they have let the peace go that quickly and are ready to play dirty?

So this last Monday display in Lagos has been condemned by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, in particular the harassment of innocent citizens after the Oodua People’s Congress and loyalists of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) went on a rampage on the streets of Lagos. And he is right to do so.

He said of the yobs that “they also showed the difference between us when the supporters of the PDP and President Jonathan came out. ‘On March 7, just about a week ago, the APC held a solidarity walk in Lagos. Did anybody attack you on that day? ‘So, yesterday, they held their own, and instead of canvassing for your votes, they were showing you knives and cutlasses,’ and he maintained that the hate speeches by certain politicians is capable of undermining the country’s electoral process and democracy. The governor continued that “the only way to hold politicians accountable is not only to be held responsible for what is done by them, but what is also done on their behalf,’’ and he advised candidates of political parties at all levels to dissociate themselves from hate speeches.

I am not sure that they will heed his advice that when thugs begin to terrorise people on the street, that the candidates will actively disown the actions of such persons. Not in Nigeria.

So in the meantime, All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of carrying his re-election desperation to a new height by allowing thugs to be unleashed on Lagos residents during a sponsored Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) protest against the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, alleged that the president’s supporters, led by the OPC, took to major roads in the city during rush hour traffic to unleash mayhem on the citizens, create massive gridlock that prevented many workers from reaching their places of work as well as destroy any APC campaign posters they could lay their hands on.

Whatever the case, if the fear and intimidation continues, it may deter some people from voting, which is principally what their brand of intimidation was set out to achieve. It is up to well-meaning Nigerians to maintain their determination to prevent and minimise the mayhem from disrupting their constitutional right to vote.

15 April – we remember the girls

“The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.”   Kalu Ndukwe Kalu

It is good news that the coalition of armed forces from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger have made steady incursion and launched a joint offensive against BH. Last Monday, the military said it had recaptured Bama, the second city of Borno State, as it prepares a final push against the extremists. This is good news as it has been confirmed that over 1.5 million people have been displaced as a result of the insurgency and 10,000 people were killed in the uprising last year.

So if the areas have been cleared of the insurgence, where are the Chibok girls?

It is almost a year since 276 girls were snatched before dawn from the government boarding school in Chibok. Though, about a dozen escaped in the first couple of days, 219 remain missing.

And despite the lack of news on the girls, Goodluck Jonathan, has repeated vows to bring the girls back. He promised, “I am more hopeful now than before on the Chibok girls’.’ Well, he remains optimistic, “I believe that the story of the Chibok girls will be better”,

And yet the army has confirmed recently that they were nowhere near rescuing the girls. We can only imagine the trauma that the relatives and friends of these young ladies are going through.