CHARLES MERIBOLE condemns the surge in political violence and enjoins the electorate not to be intimidated
A disturbing trend of rising political intolerance is emerging in Nigeria’s political landscape in the build-up to the 2027 general elections. This troubling phenomenon, which has escalated in recent weeks since the official lifting of the ban on political campaigns by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has manifested as incendiary remarks, outright threats, sponsored attacks and violence, hate speech, and unfortunately, killings in Nigeria’s political space.
Sadly, Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, set the tone for this dangerous political culture with his ‘’all is fair in politics’’ comment whilst hosting the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) at Aso Rock Villa in July 2026. Taking a cue from the President, Senator Francis Fadahunsi, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator representing Osun East, had, in a viral video before the August 15 Osun governorship election, directed APC members to ‘’kill’’ members of Accord, whose platform incumbent governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, contested the governorship election.
A similar reckless statement has been attributed to the Chairman of Kuje Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory, Samuel Shekwolo, who threatened voters not willing to vote for the APC in the 2027 general election to leave the area.
In Ebonyi State, Governor Francis Nwifuru has threatened to sack Council Chairmen who fail to deliver their councils to the APC by dealing mercilessly with the opposition members. He has practically turned local government chairmen elected to serve all the people at the grassroots, irrespective of political interests, into political enforcers of narrow interests and partisan political mobilisers. He even boasted that his shameful threat should be reported in the media.
In Borno, the State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Sinna Buba, threatened to cut off the fingers of voters who refuse to vote for the APC, while in Yobe, the State APC chairman, Muhammadu Gadaka, has directed women whose husbands prevent them from voting for the APC to leave their marriages, promising to refund their dowries and marry them.
The violent nature of these inflammatory comments has snowballed into a blockade of the convoy of the Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, on Tuesday, September 8, at the Gboko-Makurdi expressway on his way to condole with victims of a terror attack at Yelwata in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State. Obi was apparently stopped from proceeding to his destination because he is a rival presidential candidate. Another manifestation of the festering political belligerence was the brutal killing of a renowned social media political commentator in Kano State, Ibrahim Khalil Dan Shagamu, at his residence in Kano State on Tuesday, September 8.
Equally culpable are Muslim and Christian clerics who continue to frame the 2027 general elections along Nigeria’s religious fault lines. They have attempted to portray the election as a contest between Christians and Muslims and a struggle between ethnic groups in Nigeria. In their distorted logic, they have reduced political competition to a vehicle of religious and ethnic prejudice and resentment.
The National Association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity) unequivocally condemns the surge in political bigotry, violence and the broader deterioration in civility among Nigeria’s political class. It is irresponsible and reprehensible for members of the political class, especially those of the ruling party, to threaten the electorate ahead of the 2027 elections. We reject in its entirety attempts by politicians to intimidate voters and influence voting patterns in 2027 through threats, harassment, and coercion.
Electoral violence does not begin on election day. It begins when political opponents are prevented from campaigning, when citizens are threatened for expressing political preferences, when political meetings and electioneering are violently disrupted, when campaign offices are attacked, and when citizens are made to believe that supporting a particular candidate should cost them their lives or livelihood.
We find it unacceptable for politicians in Nigeria to turn every election cycle into a season of political gangsterism and an orgy of bloodletting. Many lives have been destroyed due to the ‘do-or-die’ attitude exhibited by Nigerian politicians. Elections are not war but a period when ideals, policies, and programmes are placed before the citizens for interrogation to make informed choices of the best candidate for their representation. Unleashing violence on the electorate and treating elections as a battle is completely unacceptable. It undermines democracy and threatens the very foundation of Nigeria as a country.
Nigeria has had its own fair share of truncated democratic governance as a consequence of the reckless and win-at-all-costs disposition of Nigerian politicians. The First and Second Republics are reference points for how desperate, unchecked inflammatory utterances and despicable actions by politicians triggered electoral violence that set the country on edge and aided the fall of democracy.
The bloodletting in Northern Nigeria in the aftermath of the 2011 presidential election is another tragic pointer of how unguarded statements by the political class have triggered chaos. During the 2023 election in Lagos, several South-Easterners’ lives were endangered by anti-democratic elements because they were not willing to vote for the candidate of the ruling party. We must not allow history to repeat itself.
To be sure, the inclination of the Nigerian political class towards electoral violence has continued unabated because there are no consequences for their irresponsible actions. The perpetrators of electoral violence have sustained their bare-faced recklessness because they have not been brought to book. This impunity must stop!
We are aware that the Nigeria Police has invited some politicians for questioning over recent provocative comments. We have also taken note of the arrests in connection with the disruption of the movement of Mr. Peter Obi and the murder of Ibrahim Khalil Dan Shagamu.
We commend the Nigeria Police for its swift response. However, we want to state that this is not the time to sweep any of these issues into oblivion. To serve as a deterrent, the Nigeria Police and the Department of State Services must move beyond mere investigations to actual prosecution of politicians and their supporters who persist in this assault on our democracy.
We renew our call for the establishment of an Electoral Offences Court to specifically prosecute those who engage in electoral malfeasance. The upsurge in electoral offences over election cycles is due to how these crimes have been handled cavalierly. Nigeria can only break this jinx of unending culture of political violence with a swift prosecution of those who attempt to legitimise threats and violence in a democracy.
We call on President Bola Tinubu to rise above the fray and act honourably as the President of Nigeria. His celebration and mockery of the incapacitation of opposition parties is ignoble and undemocratic. It has significantly emboldened members of his party to engage in sundry illegalities. He should rein in members of his party from antagonising members of the opposition.
The ambitions of all candidates to contest elections are legitimate and should not be seen as an existential threat. Therefore, President Bola Tinubu, opposition political leaders, and the leadership of all political parties in Nigeria must henceforth disown members who threaten democracy through their conduct, in demonstration of their commitment to democratic values.
While political parties and their candidates have the constitutional right to woo the electorate for votes, they have no right to demand those votes forcibly or decide how Nigerians must vote. Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution guarantees the freedom of association and assembly for every Nigerian.
We implore Nigerians to reject intimidation and not to surrender to fear, but to gear up to come out and vote in the 2027 elections. It is their inalienable democratic right to vote for any political party or candidate of their choice. No amount of harassment should deny them this democratic right. Enough of the threats!
Dr Meribole, NAS Capn, writes from Abuja