Rivers Rerun: It Was No Election, It Was A Crisis

Any election that records the lost of one life, is no election at all. What happened in Rivers State on Saturday was nowhere near what election looks like, but very much close to what a crisis situation looks like. What we saw and what was recorded was chaos, mayhem and killings, all inspired from the political speeches of two gladiators – Governor Nyesom Wike and the minister of transport, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. The rerun on Saturday was supposed to be about the people but it wasn’t. It rather became about the personal ego of those two who were out to test their powers, to see who actually either owns or runs the State. Lives were lost. Integrity was shattered and properties destroyed.

As usual, arrest has been made and people are being questioned. But who are these individuals arrested and being questioned? The poor and low in society always fall the victim. They are the ones that get to be killed in election violence and if they happen to survive the moment, they are arrested and queried. Governor Wike threatened everyone, from the ordinary people in Rivers State to the Nigerian police, including the military. Amaechi on the other hand, led syndicates from Abuja down to Rivers State, threatened thunder and lightning. These two have gone back to their various thrones – they don’t get to be arrested or questioned. The suffering and ignorant poor are the ones considered as troublemakers. How then do we hope to put impunity in its place when we keep letting things like this to slide? When we keep letting the rich and powerful in our society get away with crime?
Till this moment, only very few can tell who the actual candidates for the various seats were. It was as if Rivers State was having a gubernatorial election with Wike and Amaechi on opposite side of the ballot.

One aspect of the Rivers State rerun that got me really worried as to what 2019 would look like, was police officers including the Nigerian military whose responsibility it is to protect the nation’s territorial integrity, taking sides. You could hear the voices and commands of our officers in some of the video snippets put out by voters, making inciting comments and randomly trying to cause chaos in some wards in order to fulfill a certain purpose. Officers in support of Amaechi arrested Governor Wike’s loyalists and vice versa – is that how election should be in Nigeria – a nation that ought to be showing the way and taking the lead in Africa? How does one effectively and efficiently exercise his or her duty when already he or she is compromised by taking side? If officers of the law can easily be bought and paid for by political warlords, then the hope of democratic salvation for Nigeria may indeed be lost. The actions and inactions of most police officers in Saturday’s election, somehow gave evidence to the in-house rumours that the Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, may not completely be in control of the Police Force and this is definitely not a good thing.

This morning, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, said they are not in a haste to get back to Rivers State given what has happened and the fact that the election was inconclusive. The officer who spoke on behalf of the Commission on the RayPower program – political platform, affirmed that a lot went wrong even on their part. Kudos I’d say to INEC for having the initiative to take responsibility. However, the recklessness and incompetence of the body has reached an alarming stage. INEC really needs to get its act together and conduct a very transparent, error-free election that by itself inspires credibility and fairness. INEC loyalty should be to the nation and not to any individual or political party as the case may be. The idea of being loyal to a political part or individual is horrible – it blinds one’s sense of right and wrong, bias sets in and the total outcome becomes unpalatable, just like the rascality and chaos we saw in Rivers State. 2019 is around the corner, two years from now most political party will kick off campaigns, INEC need to show Nigerians that they are prepared to offer 100% efficiency.

The first step in making our election credible and violent-free comes from INEC. It must begin now to work for a system that’s impregnable so the Nigerian people can vote and not worry of rigging etc. The IGP on the other hand needs to get the Force more organized, disciplined and make Nigeria its ultimate rather than a few bigwigs in the society. The fact is we cannot keep getting it wrong, we cannot keep tearing down our own walls, at some point we have to grab the wheel of civility and do things like its done in other climes.

May God help us.