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Osun: The good, the bad, the ugly, and the downright ridiculous (YNaija Long Read)

Crying wolf

On the afternoon before the vote, I left Ilesha, where I’d gone to speak with some of Rauf Aregbesola’s “people”, and headed towards Ife to speak with some of Iyiola Omisore’s “people”. I stopped at the College of Education, Ilesha and spoke with a few students, then went on towards Ife, but never made it. Just outside Ife, soldiers from the Nigerian Army had sealed off the town. According to the Commanding Officer on the ground, this was because they’d gotten intelligence that arms were possibly being moved into town. This action, was a major inconvenience, but was quite logical. I was irritated because they told me that the only way in on the day, was if I was willing to leave my car on the highway and walk into town. Something I was unwilling to do for a variety of reasons, so I had to forget about going to Ife the day before the election.

A mother and her brood walk into Ife on Friday, 8 April, 2014. Soldiers had sealed off the town and were only allowing people who were willing to walk to go into town.
A mother and her brood walk into Ife on Friday, 8 April, 2014. Soldiers had sealed off the town and were only allowing people who were willing to walk to go into town.

However, on my return to Osogbo that night, I started to hear all sorts of stories on social media, most of them from APC supporters, all of them alarmist. I chose to react to one which asserted that there was an attack going on in hotels in the town in which “soldiers were harassing APC supporters and journalists”. Hello, I am a journalist and I happened to be in a hotel in Osogbo. As it were, all was quiet in my part of the world. I made a few phone calls, and all appeared well with the world, so I went to bed. When I woke up the next morning after a nice snooze, the first thing I did was to pick up the phone and call colleagues who work for Premium Times, The Punch, Channels TV, the Nigerian Film Corporation and The Guardian in that order. All of them residing in different hotels in different parts of town. Not one had had, or encountered a problem all night. Eventually, I found one person. Simon Ateba of The News, who was staying at The Hotel Charity, about ten minutes from my hotel, told me that some men in police uniform, not soldiers, had come to the hotel asking for “shady characters”, and had ransacked his room. When I mentioned this to a friend of mine who works for the APC, he told me that he knew people in up to seven hotels who were attacked on the night, and I asked him for the list of hotels so I could verify. I am still waiting for the list.

My cynicism regarding the hysteria about attacks and violence was, to my mind at least, confirmed later that day. Myself and Bayo arrived at Ilesha separately. We met up at Governor Aregbesola’s ward, and when the governor was done, we proceeded to Ife together. We stopped (again) at the College of Education, Ilesha, where the students informed us that soldiers had arrested twenty of their number the night before, but that that aside the election on the day had gone on well.

Comments (0) Comments

  1. this is an article bimming with sentiments against the APC. Many party leaders were arrested and taken to unknown location on the morning of election. All faults laid at the feet of the APC. From this article ‘the good (inec and fg), the bad ( god knows who) and the ugly (apc and its supporters ). this is sentiments salted with few hurriedly verified facts.

  2. Good job!But i’ll excuse you for your omission. excuse you because of your obvious inability to touch every part of the state.Even if most APC supporters cried wolf,DSS themselves have confirmed the arrest of Lai Momammed and two of his companion.Yes,the presence of DSS is not bad in itself but their modus Oprandi.Meanwhile,do u think mobile police can’t do what soldiers are called out to do?i think Nigeria Police should be encourage to build her capacity for electoral service.This is far better than inviting the military to participate in electoral process.

  3. Good job!But i’ll excuse you for your omission.excuse you because of your obvious inability to touch every part of the state.Even if most APC supporters cried wolf,DSS themselves have confirmed the arrest of Lai Mommamed and two of his companion.Yes,the presence of DSS is not bad in itself but their modus Oprandi

    YNaija © 2014

  4. Good job!But i’ll excuse you for your omission.excuse you because of your obvious inability to touch every part of the state.Even if most APC supporters cried wolf,DSS themselves have confirmed the arrest of Lai Mommamed and two of his companion.
    Youmoderation.
    SAMMYAugust 14, 2014 12:22 amReply

  5. Good job!But i’ll excuse you for your omission.excuse you because of your obvious inability to touch every part of the state.Even if most APC supporters cried wolf,DSS themselves have confirmed the arrest of

  6. U’re just one Party reporter

  7. I think you dwelled too long on APC hysteria and you could have gone ahead to fact check from Lai Mohammed, commissioners and Isiaka Adeleke on their experiences on the eve of the elections. Your opinion of using masked men in an election did not come in also. I know APC might have overblown it but it’s fact that their members were harassed and arrested. That’s not ideal in am election. Whatever you hear today is of how PDP has procured elections in the past.

  8. What an interesting read. This read more like an interesting travel memoir than a political report. Like you have rightly noted, credible elctions will deepen democracy and Adamawa’s election will serve as another index given the part of the country it’s located. The unsustainable security presence is another source of concern as the general election approaches. Chxta is an excellent writer when he finds the time to do so, but as a full-time journalist now, I think we’ll enjoy the best of him. nice work.

  9. Calm and concise….devoid of sentiment and sensationalism….I hope other journalists take a cue.

  10. This was not a long read at all or maybe it’s cos @Chxta is such a good writer, he draws you in with very line. I appreciate unbiased reports such as this. On crying wolf, I have been saying this about APC and its supporters mainly on social media and egged on by the party leadership especially spokesperson Alh. Lai Mohammed. They need to quit with the unnecessary hysteria and crying wolf all the time! They need to realise that the electorate are finding their voice and becoming more independent. Election deciders are gradually becoming less about the party and more about the candidate. Field credible candidates with grassroots support and you are more or less likely to coast to victory. This noise-making by APC and its supporters, I have noticed, is gradually beginning to get on the nerves of the non-partisan folks and the undecided electorate. The party is gradually beginning to lose the groundswell of support it enjoyed when it was in the pre-merger stages. Kudos to President Jonathan and INEC for a free and fair election. Now we know that APC lost in Ekiti not because of “intimidation” by security officers but because of the candidate. How does intimidation by security personnel work when you are casting your vote? Do they put a gun to your head when you are thumb-printing? Nice one @Chxta, I enjoyed this piece thoroughly. First time in yonks I am commenting on a Ynaija or any political post online.

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