A close shave
In Ife, and at Senator Omisore’s ward, we disembarked and separated. A few minutes after that, a crowd of people, obviously tensed up, accompanied Bayo to me. They’d seen him taken photographs, sans his identification, and they assumed that he was a “fake photographer”. In the Nigerian fashion, riotously, they proceeded to relieve him of his camera, which thankfully they handed over to the senior policeman on duty, and then they gave him every chance by allowing him to locate me. We were able to retrieve his identification from my car, and then go and recover his camera from the police. I tweeted about that incident, and less than thirty minutes later, I saw a tweet claiming that Bayo had been arrested and brutalised by soldiers!
To but paid to that particular story, I had Bayo pose with the Unknown Soldier by the Ooni of Ife’s Palace, and I took a typically bad photograph (I’m no photographer). But that incident confirmed something to me, there is a lot of embellishment by various party supporters on social media. Most of it is from APC supporters, and someone needs to tell them the story of the boy who cried wolf. If it goes on like this, a day will come when they will be telling the truth about security abuses, and most neutrals will not bother to listen.
This is not to say that there were no incidents of high handed behaviour by some security operatives. Rotimi Makinde, the APC House of Representatives member for Ife Constituency, who’s house happens to be down the road from Senator Omisore’s ward, disappeared on election morning. His disappearance was discovered because policemen went to his house in the wee hours, and did not find him at home, so they proceeded to wait around for him. As of when I left Ife for Modakeke, they were still there. That, is harassment, because to my knowledge, Mr. Makinde did nothing to be arrested for. Other stories of arrests, were those I heard from APC supporters, and politicians, but Makinde’s case is the one I can personally vouch for.
Speaking of screamers
The behaviour of the APC “voltrons” it must be said only mirrors that of politicians on both sides. Statements such as “rig and roast”; “we will not accept any result that does not favour us” and “the APC is a janjaweed party” only serve to heat up the polity. The second and third statements, made by Femi Fani-Kayode, a person notorious for crossing party lines very often, were thankfully rendered impotent because the Presidency accepted these results very quickly. But try, for a moment, and imagine what the outcome would have been like, with such statements floating in the ether, if there’d been no heavy security presence. I like to think that like would have happened at Gbongan, if there’d been no heavy security presence, things could have very quickly gotten out of hand, and we’d be left with a number of corpses, and no inkling of the truth about what started it all in the first place.
Then there is the plain ridiculous: Fatai Akinbade, the Labour Party candidate provided quite a few laughs when he decided to send a press release asking both leading candidates to “step down for him”. His assertion in the release that the remarks by the leading candidates’ spokespersons had caused his supporters to “vote wrongly”, was the stuff of comic relief. Made for a beautiful evening.
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.
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.
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
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
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
U’re just one Party reporter
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.
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.
Calm and concise….devoid of sentiment and sensationalism….I hope other journalists take a cue.
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.
is dat rite.