Political Thuggery: Act That Ruins Politics In Nigeria And Future Of Youths -By Mukhtar Garba Kobi

The menace of political thuggery has been in existence for a long time as it has become a threat to Nigeria’s progress, it came to public notice during 2003 elections. Sponsored thugs unleash rancor by victimizing, intimidating and injuring innocent individuals and weak politicians without prior actions aftermath. That was why Howell (2004) says ‘when politics is criminalized, it is left in the hands of ruffians, thugs and hooligans because the good people are scared away’. Nigeria still has elements of such derisive minds as leaders; they mute critics, disturb happiness, cause tension, abort dreams and destroy determinations of fellow human beings through sponsorship of political thugs.

Leaders are usually acting like drivers that move citizens from the darkness of challenges to the glowing light of transitory developments, but unfortunately, bad leaders in democratic settings have taken over by diverting funds meant for projects and recruiting youths under their watch to be wrecking havocs. They send their children to best schools overseas while acting passively to lingering institutional strikes. Hospitals especially in rural areas lack proper medications and residents find it hard to access them due to existence of bad roads. Negligence of leaders and egocentrism have led to the emergence of political thugs called Kalare in Gombe, Yan Daba in Kano State, they are named Sara-Suka in Bauchi, referred to Ecomog in Borno and in Lagos State they are called Area Boys.

The thugs are like flute in the hands of the owner who could force them to sound (act) purposely to satisfy whims and caprices. The sad part is that those politicians are not involving their sons and daughters in such devilish activities; minds of thugs could not revolt against the wills of their masters. Bad leaders play vital roles in fueling political thuggery especially before, during and after elections; they pay irresponsible youths hugely to effectualise their missions. Core causes of political thuggery includes unemployment; it is capable for making idle youths do anything to earn money not minding the consequences of such actions, unemployed youths are like cats that obey to be fed; they become susceptible to thuggery. Inactive security; this is due to carelessness of governments’  in acquiring modern weapons, training and re-training of officers as well as not giving them freewill to arrest anyone responsible of sponsoring thugs.

According to Human Rights Watch, perception of violence and their sponsors often enjoys complete impunity for their actions both from the official law enforcement bodies and their own political parties’. Similarly, excessive love to remain in power; candidates that are in power that foresaw defeat  in elections usually employ thugs to dastardly disrupt smooth conduct of elections, collation and counting of casted votes. This was evident in 2007 when the then Nigeria’s President decided to extend his tenure despite ruling for 8 years as constitution stated, opposition parties refused to welcome the idea and luckily the national assembly said no to it which ended the hullabaloo. It also occurred in 2011 when supporters of opposition Presidential candidate took to streets protesting against the election outcome but was unfortunately taken over by hoodlums.

Second to the last factor is absence of pure democratic culture; our bad leaders scared credible people from contesting because it has been the culture of our democracy for decades which is not healthy for democratic dispensation. The last factor that fuel political thuggery is the lingering corruption in the system; electoral bodies for years have been doing their best to conduct free and fair elections, but corrupt officials amongst them at times collect huge amount of money from bad leaders and systematically change choices of the populace. Leaders that got to the throne through rigging elections are mostly languid and inactive in bringing developmental projects.

In summary, there is need for governments to give more priority to youths empowerments; this would make them responsible and desist from risking their lives in the name of thuggery. Security forces should recruit more agents so that number of people under the watch of a single officer to be less, they should also be equipped with modern weapons and have freewill to arrest anyone found guilty of sponsoring thugs. Political positions should be made less lucrative, salaries and benefits attached to such seats should be adjusted which at the end would make it less attractive to covetous candidates and those already on the mantles. Electoral bodies should be independent and free from the ruling government’s control, it must be conducting free, fair and credible elections which might give hope to eligible persons irrespective of tribe or religion and that would put an end to the era of family politics or God-Fatherism.

Mukhtar writes from Bauchi and can be reached via mukhtarkobi351@gmail.com