By Oguwike Nwachuku
Campaigns and politics go together. Ask politicians. Rallies are the major ingredients to test the popularity of a political party.
The bigger the rally or campaign the better for politicians, their supporters, and their chances of winning election.
Hypothetical as this may sound, it has become a way of life for our politicians – campaign rallies – real or imaginary.
In most cases, politicians and political parties rent crowd to score political goals during electioneering.
No political party or politician is immune to crowd renting or deliberate deception to have an advantage over opponents. They intimidate opponents with the large turnout of “supporters” at their rallies.
Until I got the true picture of the inaugural campaign of the Lagos State All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship election at Skypower field in Ikeja GRA on Tuesday, I had assumed a post on the Facebook wall of the state APC Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, saying since 2007 he has not seen such a large turnout of party faithful at a rally was all that happened.
Trust politicians, Igbokwe did not betray any sign of an ugly incident at the rally, apparently not to put his camp in harm’s way or position of a laughing stock before his political opponents. And as I said earlier, the bigger the crowd the more invincible the party is believed to be.
That was the signal Igbokwe was probably sending across when he painted a picture of an unprecedented turnout without drawing the attention of his Facebook friends to the violence at the venue and eventual loss of lives.
But within three hours, news was everywhere that the Lagos APC governorship campaign had turned bloody and that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and the governorship candidate, Jide Sanwo-Olu, and their team had abandoned the podium for their safety because of the reign of brigands and merchants of violence.
It was reported on social media that many persons were feared killed and scores of “lucky” ones left with different types of wounds. The injured were rushed to different hospitals.
Before the reports of violence at the campaign ground where charms, guns, knives and machetes were used freely, there was bedlam in Ikeja and its environs which became the talk of the town.
The source of the traffic jam that kept motorists on the spot for hours was a subject of guesses.
Many had thought that the traffic gridlock was precipitated by the call by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to its members to protest over delay in the implementation of the new minimum wage same Tuesday.
But all conjectures were off the course.
The main source of the traffic hold up was the APC campaign and the supporters fleeing the venue in different directions for fear of being caught in the vortex of violence.
Videos from the campaign ground showing thugs brawling openly while Akinwunmi was delivering his speech spoke volumes about the intensity of the gang war and thug action.
In the video, many hoodlums wielded sticks, knives, machetes and guns.
Although the APC leadership told me on Wednesday that only one person died, earlier reports said three persons lost their lives and many were hospitalised.
Among those caught in the web of the rumpus was the chieftain of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo. He was stabbed.
With tumult taking the centre stage during the campaign flag-off, it was only a matter of seconds before traffic snarl would set in, and that was exactly what happened as many commuters became stranded.
Lagosians who still had strength left in them resorted to trekking to their destinations, raining curses on the perpetrators of their ordeal, and wishing the cup passed them by as quickly as possible.
An interesting aspect of the violence is that it was hijacked by party supporters who are also members of the NURTW.
Politicians after politicians co-opt members of the NURTW for the violent aspect of the business.
Those who understand the way politics goes know that a violent approach is considered as very significant, if not more significant than propaganda, persuasion, and other tools for power struggle.
It is therefore no news to politicians anytime they hear that a campaign turns bloody. It ought to be part of the process of winning the battle for power, many of them are wont to think.
The only time politicians show some kind of remorse is when violence affects their loved ones or supporters whose role is key to their contest and success.
MC Oluomo, the man stabbed, is a ranking member of the NURTW seeking to lead the union in Lagos State at the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent chairman, and is also in the good books of the powers that be in Lagos because of his ability to mobilise his members to support their aspiration.
He is, like many of his NURTW colleagues, a card carrying member of the APC. That much Igbokwe confirmed on Wednesday when he addressed the media to situate what actually happened at the rally.
Prior to the day of the campaign, security report revealed that a gang war was imminent between Oluomo’s faction and Kunle Poly’s faction.
While Oluomo, who is the Lagos State Treasurer of the NURTW, controls the Oshodi branch, Kunle is in charge of the Island branch and would stop at nothing to frustrate the plan of Oluomo to become state Chairman.
Both gang leaders had sought the blessing and support of the national leader of the APC and a key figure in Lagos politics, Bola Tinubu, and as far as they were concerned, the best place to test their strength was at the inaugural campaign. And they did.
As recently as the 2015 general election, Oluomo was on the wanted list of the police over various criminal acts in the power tussle in the NURTW. That forced him into hiding to avoid arrest.
It is believed that his link with the APC and alleged affiliation with Tinubu made it possible for him to come out of the police web unscathed.
One APC chieftain described him as a partner that can be trusted. That assessment is capable of agitating or stirring Kunle Poly’s gall bladder.
Violence in whatever guise is condemnable. It does no one any good. Those who use it to achieve an end are cowards, dastard and mean, particularly when lives are often lost.
Politicians who elevate violence above other political strategies and considerations during electioneering are wicked and do not deserve to lead. They are no better than common criminals.
The sole reason politicians enter into affinity with motor-park touts under the aegis of the NURTW is to perpetrate electoral violence.
The takeaway from the Lagos APC campaign flag-off is that all the major actors in the power game – the NURTW and the APC leaders – left the venue alive. Only the vulnerable and helpless and unknown paid the ultimate prize.
Oluomo was stabbed, but Igbokwe told me that the man has long been treated in hospital and discharged. That plans are afloat to move him out of the country for further medical treatment as is being insinuated is news. Nothing happened to Ambode and Sanwo-Olu and their team; not even Kunle Poly had a scratch.
Those who got killed and seriously wounded were those who ignorantly negotiated for it. They were the APC supporters who cannot use their tongues to count their teeth.
They went to fight for rice, money, T-shirts, caps, and other cheap election gifts in the assumption that those they are supporting will raise a finger for them.
But the development also speaks to the level of poverty, hunger and frustration in the land and the army of youths who are mere willing tools in the hands of politicians to manipulate to their advantage.
I am sure some of the members of the so-called NURTW who were deployed by Oluomo to fight his cause may not know that all the man’s children are schooling abroad.
Yes. His children are in Europe and America getting the best of education and probably preparing to return home after studying to continue to lord it over the same fellows that have decided to die for Oluomo and his ilk.
When the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released its consolidated registered voters and the youths topped the figure with more than 40 percent, one thought that the clamour for #Not Too Young To Rule# is real. How wrong can one be!
Events leading to the violence at the Lagos APC campaign flag-off indicate that the army of youths whose names litter the INEC register are nothing but thugs and touts on the chess board of selfish and greedy politicians who want to use them as usual and dump them afterwards.
The youths in this country must make haste to help themselves. One of the ways to so do is to resist the lure to be used by politicians for their selfish interest. Being used by someone has nothing to do with whether you are educated or not.
Rather than submit to thuggery or any other form of brigandage, I like to see the youths approach the politicians with demands that speak to their trade needs as auto mechanics, tailors, bricklayers, carpenters, barbers, plumbers, fashion designers, and other numerous means of living they are proud of.
Until the youths stop seeing themselves as cannon fodders that can be dispensed with by the politicians they can never get it right. Not in today’s Nigeria where there is a deliberate ploy to keep them perpetually down and incapacitated.
Let every youth who was at the venue of the Lagos APC governorship flag-off campaign spare a thought on the ugly fate that befell Ismaila Azeez (aka Legacy), one of those who died, and others seriously injured that it could have happened to anyone. Time to stop being foolish is now.