The nation is gripped in fear. Popular politicians are being slaughtered senselessly as the elections draw near, and those of them still alive are asking for police protection, even as the Inspector General of Police, Sunday Ehindero, says there will not be any special security for any of them.
In Lagos and Ekiti, among other high profile assassinations, potential governors were silenced in the most barbaric way in this season of political murder, and a nation that has witnessed unresolved murders before wonder if there is a bigger plan to draw the nation into political instability.
On July 27, 2006, a respected politician, Funsho Williams' body was found dead at his home in Lagos. Despite a national outcry, it is very doubtful that Williams' real murderers will face justice, as no case of political assassination has ever been adequately resolved in Nigeria.
Days later, a foremost PDP governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Dr. Ayo Daramola was killed in his home town, Ijan-Ekiti. This came barely four days after the burial of Funsho Williams. Sources said he was killed after a political rally. That threw the political society in a state of panick.
Even the Senate President, Ken Nnamani, is so worried that he said the current political killings in the country may lead to inconclusive elections in 2007. Nnamani reasoned that the situation has generated tension that is scaring noblemen out of politics.
Said he: "As we approach 2007, the un-abating cases of unresolved murders would scare men of goodwill out of political contest and the result may be inconclusive elections." Nnamani also noted that the political instability in the country is also affecting the nation’s economic growth because a stable polity guarantees economic prosperity.
Equally worried is the Acting Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Bolasade Kayode Ajani, who expressed concern over extra judicial killings and urged the Senate to intervene.
But the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS), Kayode Are, told the Senate there is sufficient evidence to conclude that some state governors are behind the killings. He did not mention any governor, but the whole nation is already expecting that the governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, would be arrested concerning the death of his opponent, Dr. Ayodeji Daramola.
Are who briefed the Senate in a closed session in response to a Senate summon on him and the Inspector-General of Police to explain the spate of political assassinations, explained that the governors involved in assassinations would be named at the conclusion of the on-going investigations
Who is behind the killings, really?
There are three schools of thought. First, they may just be isolated instances of politicians and there followers trying to trim the queue to the state house to increase their chances of winning, as it appears in the case of Ekiti State, at least. The SSS chief alluded to this thinking when he told the Senate some killings were done for the sole aim of eliminating political rivals while in other cases, some aspirants were killed in order to implicate their rivals. The Senators told the SSS boss that some of his agents had been compromised as a result of monetary gifts from some governors. He was told that some of his agents in the states had become errand boys of the governors who use them for suppressing political opponents. Particular reference was reportedly made of Benue State.
Secondly, it could agents of the present administration working on a self-fulfilling prophecy so that if there is substantial instability, a good case could be made for an interim administration to succeed President Olusegun Obasanjo. All it would take in a state of chaos would be a declaration of a state of emergency, a fuel for an interim government that has been making rounds lately in political circles.
Thirdly, it could be mischeavous politicians such as Ibrahim Babangida, trying to create enough problems for the present administration to fail. In such scenario, if such powerful politicians fail to realize their dreams, they can then destabilize the country, and thereby foister insurrection or even a military coup.
Unless the police and the security agencies are able to apprehend and try the murderers, it will be difficult for anyone to believe these are ordinary killings. In the past, cases of politicians killed ahead of elections have never been resolved. The murder of the late governor and minister, Mr. Bola Ige, is instructive. Up till now, his killers have not been found. So is the case of other s killed supposedly for political motives.Currently, a lot of Nigerians are jittery. Parents are asking their children who live abroad not to visit home until after the 2007 elections, even as ordinary citizens live in the fear total anarchy as the election day gets close.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, who had been expected to brief the Senate and tell the nation what is going on, did not come forward. Instead it was President Obasanjo who defended his absence in a letter to the President of the Senate, in which he excused the Police boss from appearing on account of a national assignment outside Abuja.
This is just the kind of situation that makes the nation suspicious about the administration. Already, there are reports the President is averse to the idea of arresting the Ekiti governor for murder because he suspects some civil rights leader are out to get the PDP out of power in the state - a lame excuse for such a serious issue.
Senate spokesman, Mr Victor Ndoma-Egba, said the ball was now in the court of security agents to identify those behind the political killings.
He said: “The Inspector-General of Police would be in a better position to brief us on those killings when he appears before the Senate. But essentially, the security agencies are as concerned as other Nigerians about the state of insecurity and they are doing everything within their power to be on top of the situation.
The nation waits on the Inspector Genral of Police for an answer.
