Politics
Results from Saturday's election in Nigeria's oil-rich Rivers state have been suspended due to a shocking amount of politically-motivated violence. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reported that some of its staffers had been abducted and killed by "well armed thugs and miscreants allegedly acting on behalf of some politicians." These criminals also barricaded INEC offices, stole ballots and other government materials, and threatened voters and officials.
The INEC staffers are now part of a long list of victims of the bitter, ongoing battle between the nationally-ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers state. Home to major oil reserves, and two of the national oil company’s refineries, Rivers is nominally the country’s second richest state. However, corruption and political violence are so rampant there that the vast majority of its residents live in poverty, and the environment is disastrously polluted from numerous oil spills and deliberate sabotages.
Last week the APC claimed that 32 of its members had been killed in the run-up to the election, including by being beheaded and clubbed to death. (The PDP denied responsibility for the killings.) But although results from eight local areas were suspended from Saturday’s violence, the INEC did release results in nine other state constituencies (which had proceeded without mayhem). Those results indicated a massive opposition victory -- the PDP won eight compared to just one for the APC -- and the PDP also won a federal constituency.
Rivers governor Nyesom Wike of the PDP said the results showed that the people supported his party, and he accused the APC of deploying the military to subvert the state’s electoral process. He blamed the military -- not politicians or residents of the state -- for Saturday’s death toll. According to Nigeria’s This Day Live, he also said most soldiers deployed for the elections were used by the APC leaders to hijack materials, illegally arrest PDP members and manipulate the process. (The Nigerian Army arrested the Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Kenneth Kobani, for allegedly disrupting the elections in the state.) Wike added that the number of troops sent to intimidate and harass Rivers people was regrettable, even as they failed to tackle the country’s real security challenges.
Ultimately, Nigerian police confirmed that 4 people had been killed (although other media reports claimed there were at least 6 deaths) and 24 arrested in different parts of the state for criminal and/or electoral offenses. (No mention was made of any soldiers being arrested or court-martialed.)
And so the corruption and political antagonism continues, with effects that are all too tragic. For a broader look on this hot topic, see the videos of last year’s Blouin Creative Leadership Summit panels, Democracy in Africa: Fact or Fiction? and Global Corruption: Causes and Consequences.
