The delay by the Nigeria Police to arrest and prosecute the Senator representing Osun East, Francis Fadahunsi; Chairman of Kuje Area Council in Abuja, Samuel Shekwolo, and Borno State Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation, Youth and Sports Development, Sainna Buba, for threatening non-supporters of All Progressives Congress with extreme violence may have confirmed the impression by the opposition parties that the agents of the ruling party involved in acts of lawlessness are covered by immunity, Ejiofor Alike reports
As the 2027 general election approaches, the apparent reluctance of the Nigeria Police to move decisively against the Senator representing Osun East, Francis Fadahunsi; Chairman of Kuje Area Council in Abuja, Samuel Shekwolo, and the Borno State Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation, Youth and Sports Development, Sainna Buba for threatening non-supporters of All Progressives Congress (APC) with violence has become a cause of concern to all lovers of democracy.
The perceived silence of the National Peace Committee (NPC) headed by a former military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd.) to these threats by anti-democratic elements has also questioned the political will of this committee to call powerful political forces to order in the likely event that they attempt to manipulate the next year’s elections.
Shortly before the August 15 governorship election in Osun State, Senator Fadahunsi had during a protest at the palace of the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland in Ilesa, directed APC members to retaliate by killing members of the rival Accord Party.
In a video, which circulated online, the senator, who was accompanied by other APC leaders, accused Accord Party members of killing APC members in Ilesa.
Instead of arresting and prosecuting him, the Osun State Police Command honoured him with an invitation without any criminal proceedings accompanying it, despite the call by Amnesty International and other lovers of democracy for the authorities to bring him to justice.
In the August 11 invitation letter signed by the Commissioner of Police overseeing the Osun State election, Samuel Etaifo, the police acknowledged that his statement was potentially “threatening, inciting and intimidating.”
However, during a live programme on Channels Television, Fadahunsi attempted to play down the threat he issued, claiming ridiculously that he was urging his supporters to defeat the Accord Party at the ballot box rather than attack its members physically.
“The inaction of the police in his case may have encouraged APC agents to feel that belonging to the ruling party confers them with immunity from prosecution when they perpetrate violence against non-members of their party.
Non-APC members were publicly threatened with violence in Lagos and other states during the 2023 general election but none of the perpetrators was arrested and prosecuted.
Many Nigerians were therefore not surprised that shortly after Fadahunsi’s violent threats against Accord Party members, the Chairman of Kuje Area Council in Abuja, Samuel Shekwolo, was seen in a video asking residents to either vote for the ruling APC in 2027 or leave the council areas.
His principal and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike had repeatedly vowed to deliver the FCT and Rivers State to the APC in 2027.
In democracy, it is the choice of the voters that should prevail in an election and not the whims and caprices of any political actor, no matter how powerful.
Therefore, how the FCT minister will deliver the FCT and Rivers State to the APC has remained a matter of conjecture.
He had also boasted that President Bola Tinubu would have sent him to Osun State if he had wanted the APC to win the state at all costs.
Again, how his presence in Osun State during the election would have changed the choice of the people of the state who voted against the APC has also remained in the realm of speculation.
It is worrisome that the National Peace Committee has not publicly condemned this anti-democratic rhetoric.
The police have also turned a blind eye to these threats.
Despite the call by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for Shekwolo’s arrest, he has also remained untouchable.
In a statement by the NHRC, the Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu, described Shekwolo’s threat as “intimidation and direct assault on the Constitution and on democratic principles.
“In view of the foregoing, the commission is demanding the immediate arrest and prosecution of Hon. Samuel Danjuma Shekwolo by the Nigeria Police Force.
“The commission is also calling on the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police Force, and INEC to immediately investigate and put in place protective measures to prevent the harassment, profiling, or disenfranchisement of residents in Kuje ahead of the 2027 elections.”
Due to the inaction of the law enforcement agencies on Fadanhusi and Shekwolo’s threats of non-APC members, the Borno State Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation, Youth and Sports Development, Sainna Buba, recently threatened to “flog” opposition members who do not support the ruling APC.
Buba, in a now-circulating video, said, “We are now playing politics. Whoever shows us a finger, we will show him a finger. Whoever dares to show us a finger again, we will break his finger.”
“The government is our government. Those who follow us will enjoy the honey; if you refuse, then you will be flogged,” he added.
One thing is common among these anti-democratic elements: After delivering their messages, Fadahunsi, Shekwolo and Buba apologised, denied or retracted their messages.
However, retraction or denial or apology is not a guarantee that these anti-democratic elements won’t unleash violence on political opponents in the 2027 general election as they threatened.
The National Peace Committee should speak up publicly against powerful political actors threatening the democratic rights of Nigerians so as to restore public confidence in the sanctity of the ballot boxes and ballot papers.
Threats of violence and manipulation of the electoral choice of the people encourage voter apathy and destroy democracy.
The police claimed recently that they had commenced investigations into alleged inciting comments by Fadahunsi, Buba, and Shekwolo.
The Force Public Relations Officer (PRO), Ani Iniedu, made this known while responding to questions from reporters at the joint security spokespersons’ briefing at the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, Abuja.
“On the issue of the Senator in Osun State, the council chairman in the FCT and the Borno commissioner’s inciting comments, I was part of the team that questioned the distinguished senator in Osun State,” Iniedu added.
Many political analysts believe that if these political actors were members of the opposition parties, the police would have arrested them, ransacked their houses, searched for weapons and other incriminating items, and arraigned them for treasonable felony.
If a Katsina State resident, Aminu Sanda, popularly known as Nesta, could be detained at the Force Headquarters in Abuja and charged with treasonable felony over allegations that he destroyed pro-President Bola Tinubu campaign billboards in Katsina State, when will the Police Prosecute Fadahunsi, Shekwolo, Buba for inciting violence and threatening to take human lives?