On March 18, 2023, another chapter in the orgy of violence that had defined Nigeria’s political history unravelled across the country. Political thuggery, violence and voter intimidation, which have been the bane of Nigeria’s elections since the country began experimenting with democratic governance post Independence, reared their ugly heads yet again. 

As the dawn broke on the day of the gubernatorial and assembly elections, gangs of armed political thugs took to the streets and headed straight to the polling units, unleashing a reign of terror on Nigerians who had gone out to exercise their democratic rights. For Nigerians who are old enough, the thuggery and voter intimidation of that Saturday was nothing new. It was reminiscent of the violence that blighted previous elections and truncated democracy. 

In Nigeria, politics and violence are siamese twins 

Indeed, no election conducted since 1959 has been violence-free. The violent events of March 18 had a precedent. In 1964, disagreements among politicians led to the infamous Wild Wild West when the Western region erupted in violence. That election also witnessed thuggery and voter intimidation, leading to a bloody coup in January 1966. 

In 1983, massive rigging and thuggery by politicians led to violence in places like Ondo, where the late Akin Omoboriowo of the National Party of Nigeria was declared the winner. Aggrieved supporters of Adekunle Ajasin’s Unity Party of Nigeria went on a rampage. The late Obafemi Awolowo was the presidential candidate of the UPN. 

In 1993, the annulment of the election by Ibrahim Babangida, which MKO Abiola won in a landslide, led to widespread violence. Elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011 were characterised by thuggery, massive rigging, voter intimidation and violence. In the 2011 election, when the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari lost to Goodluck Jonathan, the violent aftermath led to more than 1,000 deaths and about 65, 000 Nigerians displaced in the north. 

One major feature of these violent elections is how ethnicity and religion played a destructive role as politicians struggled for dominance, power and control of the nation’s resources. So when gangs of political thugs armed with dangerous weapons took to the streets and headed to polling units on March 18, they were only continuing the bloody history that had defined our elections.

In Lagos, videos of violence perpetrated by political thugs who prevented voters from exercising their democratic rights dominated social media. Political thugs were seen in videos preventing those they perceived as Igbo from casting their votes. In some polling units, other Nigerians who the thugs labelled Igbos but insisted they were Yorubas were not allowed to access their polling units. 

The disenfranchisement was meant to achieve one goal: prevent voters who may vote against the incumbent governor and the All Progress Congress candidate, Babajide Saanwo-Olu, from exercising their democratic rights. There were reports that several people were injured, and one person was shot dead. 

Indeed, the ethnic and violent rhetoric in the build-up to the election had generated a lot of tension among the political gladiators in the state and across the country. In Lagos, tension had built up among supporters of the APC and Labour Party before the polls. The LP governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, had been at the centre of ethnic slurs as his opponents attempted to cast him as an Igbo candidate by using his Igbo heritage to create division and cast him as not Yoruba enough. 

His Igbo name, ‘Chinedu’, became the subject of ethnic baiting and slurs. The supporters of the APC said, by virtue of the Labour Party’s candidate’s mother being Igbo, he is not qualified to be the governor of Lagos. To them, it doesn’t seem to matter that Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour has a Yoruba father with a long history in Lagos. On social media, influencers and paid vuvuzelas of both political parties hurled ethnic slurs at one another and even attempted to drag both ethnic groups into their political war.  

Politicians also continue the political war in campaign rallies and public engagements as the social media war rages. The Igbos were asked to go back to Anambra to vote. The deputy governor of Lagos, Babafemi Hamzat, said APC developed Lagos, Peter Obi of Labour should campaign in Anambra. The Lagos Parks and Gardens chairman was caught on video making inflammatory remarks about Igbos but soon downplayed them as a joke.

The die was cast. 

The violence on the day of the election was a culmination of months of charged ethnic rhetoric that had dominated the 2023 elections. However, the thuggery and voter intimidation were not peculiar to Lagos alone. In several states across the country, where the governorship elections were held, violence was deployed to intimidate voters. In Kano, Rivers, and some states in the southeast, violence was the order of the day. 

Ethnic angle to Lagos election 

Largely, the voting pattern of the Igbos in Lagos was the backdrop to what happened on March 18. The controversial statement that “Lagos is a no man’s land” fueled by opposition influencers in the state also contributed to an already tense atmosphere that was exploited to sow more seeds of discord even when it had been agreed that Yoruba are indigenous to Lagos. 

Recall that during the February 25 presidential election, when Peter Obi defeated Tinubu, it was thought that Igbo residents voted against the candidate of the All Progressives Congress. The attempt to prevent another defeat seems to have heightened tension

As the curtains were drawn on the 2023 elections with the conclusion of the governorship and state assembly elections, one of the unfortunate aftermaths is how the power struggle by politicians has stoked ethnic tension and division between the Igbo and Yoruba ethnic groups in the state. The narrative is that the events of March 18 were Yoruba against Igbo, that Yoruba hates Igbo. Nothing can be further from the truth.

While it may serve the agenda of politicians to push the Yoruba-versus-Igbo narrative, the ethnic rhetoric, thuggery, and voter intimidation were purely political affairs and should be seen as such. Those who believe otherwise and ask the Yoruba ethnic group to apologise to Igbos for the violence are either naive, mischievous or lack a sense of Nigeria’s contemporary political history. 

In Nigeria, politics and power struggles have always been an interplay of ethnicity and religion. Politicians often exploit our fault lines by whipping up ethnic and religious sentiments in their quest for power.

Thuggery has also been used by politicians across the country by politicians. The late Chief LamidI Adedibu was known to have armed thugs that enforced his demands on politicians. The point being made is that painting electoral violence as an ethnic issue seriously misses the point. 

But this is exactly what the politicians wanted to achieve. Unfortunately, those who should know better are helping push this agenda when it is the dangerous ethnic rhetoric of politicians and their supporters that have fueled the narrative. 

Those who have been pushing the narrative that the Yoruba ethnic group should apologise for political thuggery which prevented Igbos and even some Yorubas and other ethnic groups from voting in Lagos lack a sense of history about contemporary politics and the interplay of thuggery, politics and democracy in the context of power struggle in Nigeria. 

They are also driven by bigotry and mischief against the Yorubas. Political violence, voter intimidation and ballot snatching are crimes punishable by Nigerian laws. Political thugs and their political paymasters should be held accountable. It has nothing to do with the Yoruba people, who are reputed as the most accommodating, tolerant, and liberal ethnic group in the country.