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A DANGEROUS DIMENSION TO POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS
The political parties must face up to the real issues
Right before our very eyes, a new political culture is unfolding in the country. From a sitting Senator publicly inciting people in Osun State to kill supporters of opposing parties, to a council chairman in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) threatening residents except they vote for his party, to a commissioner in Borno State promising to amputate the hands of anyone who exercises their franchise in a different way from his preference, the political climate in Nigeria is increasingly becoming toxic. To compound the challenge, a state governor is now announcing that he will remove from office any elected local government official who does not ‘deliver’ the votes for his party during the 2027 general election.
While swearing in the newly elected chairmen and vice chairmen of Ebonyi State’s 13 local government areas (all won by his party as is customary with such elections in the country), Governor Francis Nwifuru descended into the gutter. “Any chairman who fails to win his council will be removed from office and replaced with a councillor. I want this information to be on the headlines of newspapers because, as politicians, we would not speak in secret,” Nwifiru declared. “The chairmen know we would win in the state and if they choose to sleep and allow others to take their areas, they would be removed.”
The 1999 constitution in its Fourth Schedule is clear about the functions, duties, and responsibilities of the local governments. Unfortunately, the same constitution is silent on any protective mechanism that guarantees local governments financial and political autonomy. Despite the Supreme Court ruling awarding them financial autonomy, this crucial decision is still at the whims of the state governors who, indeed, imposed the local officials on their councils in the name of elections that are neither free nor fair.
In office, many of these officials are either only too grateful to do the bidding of the governors or are too scared to assert their independence. In most cases, they are constantly reminded of the skewed process that brought them to office. These supposedly elected council officials are therefore constantly warned on the repercussions of holding any dissenting views or not obeying whatever ‘mandate’ they are given by the governor. Cowed and compromised, they end up serving the governor rather than the people.
Ordinarily, an effective local government administration is much needed for human development. But where the mandate of such public officials is already reduced to securing or procuring the votes for a political party as is now the case in Ebonyi State, it stands to reason that the plight of the ordinary citizens would not feature much in their calculations. Yet the received wisdom is that with the local governments not performing to the required optimal level, the nation generally suffers because this is the level of government that is closest to the people, and should be the most responsive to their needs.
What all the recent desperations in the campaigns leading to the 2027 general election speak to is a distorted mindset of impunity that must urgently be addressed by stakeholders.The Constitution did not grant a state governor the authority to remove an elected local government chairman.Since most of these politicians making these unguarded pronouncements belong to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the leadership of the party has a responsibility to rein them in.
What they must understand is that the most dangerous consequence of this recklessness is not the damage it does today. It is in the tendency to entrench a political culture that normalises violence and lawlessness, and ultimately erodes democratic freedom. Such rhetoric also emboldens troublemakers and increases tension and insecurity in the nation. Because these threats are in violation of the constitution, President Bola Tinubu needs to quickly stem this dangerous tide and save the nation a descent into avoidable anarchy.
