The number of those who were killed during the elections that brought Governor Nyesom Wike back to power is not known but many sources have put it at not less than 50. Thus, to say that Governor Wike bought his re-election with blood could be an understatement. This is for the mere fact that many lost their lives in the course of the governorship election on March 9, 2019, to add to those that were killed in the presidential election two weeks earlier. The elections witnessed full actions by the military, militants and militias in full field action, painting the state in red.
The governor has since dedicated his long-drawn re-election victory to the memory of those who died to “defend” democracy. He has shown great compassion for the loss of lives so much that he warned those who won as senators, House of Reps and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly never to play with their victories but to remember that Rivers people paid the supreme price (in blood) to get them into seats. He message seemed to resonate with the weary masses.
From the beginning of the elections to the end, blood and violence seemed to be the recurring decimal. Even when the voting was over, higher levels of violence took over as armed teams, either from the police, army, government people, militants and militias targeted collation centres and result sheets. This brought a breakdown of order as Returning Officers disappeared and reappeared any time.
Blood
Women played very important role in the elections in Rivers State. They formed shields against military and police teams suspected to be on dubious missions. Men realised since the Aba women riots that the best form of shield is the one formed by women and mothers. This was proved effective when women ‘arrested’ suspected soldiers in Ogu-Bolo who attempted to scale the fence at the local council secretariat into the collation centre. Footage of women holding viciously to the khaki uniforms and uniformed men looking confused and trapped before phone cameras went viral.
On that score, groups now found women useful and mobilised them to protest one interest or the other. The most frequented target was the Aba Road state headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Some groups added the state police command on Moscow Road and the Government House as other destinations, chanting war songs but calling for peace.
Each day, teams of women protesters filed out on the popular roads in Port Harcourt brandishing one placard message or the other. A big target was Obo Effanga, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) who came under fire for allegedly being anti-Buhari and anti-All Progressives Congress (APC). Many accused him of being a card-carrying member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He kept mum all through and went about doing his work until Wike was delivered Tuesday, April 2, 2019.
When the PDP and Government House realised the spate of the protests that looked sponsored, they too brought out their own women and marched in support of Effanga. Each day, it was ‘Effanga Must Go’, ‘No, Effanga Must Stay’. The army also received doses of protests.
Women in their menstrual periods (known as spotting women) were believed to be part of the protesters, adding blood to the effort. In African understanding, if such women file out against a leader, it was feared as taboo. In the electoral wars in Rivers State, every weapon is fair. What mattered was victory, and it came to Wike.
Big time killing
Real blood however, came with rifles and knives, and it came to both the big and small. The military was out there in the field, militants were there, and militias were there too.
Each group was loyal to a political leader. The first big killing went to a man that made waves as two-time local council chairman of Andoni. Monwan Etete hailed from same town with the national chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus. He recently served as special adviser to Governor Nyesom Wike before he resigned and gave his life to Christ and became a pastor in his local church.
The next thing that happened was that Etete joined the APC before the elections. On the morning of the presidential election, he was in a meeting in his house with his brother and cousin. Some men came to the gate and said they were invited for elections duties. They were let in. Once inside the sitting room, their true identities unfolded into killer weapons. They allegedly beheaded Etete and his relatives. Beheading is the killing style of certain traditional cults who use the heads to measure their ranks in their world.
On the day of the governorship election, news came that a current special adviser to Governor Wike was killed. Next, it was amended to abduction.
At Abonnema, soldiers were said to have been ambushed on their way to the city. Fighting went on for days and a soldier was killed and some others injured. The PDP said many of its members were killed in that encounter. Both the Army and the community claim to be victims. The Army has launched an inquiry into the fighting to determine who the aggressor was, since every party is the victim.
Another flare point was Obio/Akpor, part of the state capital where Wike comes from. The army is still angry that that violence that took place there was swept under the carpet in INEC and police reports. The army in a statement by its highest public affairs officers said they were betrayed and would have to review further participation in operations with the police and INEC. The inquiry may unravel what truly happened.
Another notable killing was that of a lecturer in the Bori Polytechnic, a man who just bagged a doctorate degree without drinking a cup of water, according to the wife. Ferry Gberegbe was said to be shot by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) in Rivers State led by Akin Fakorede. He died later in a hospital.
Also said to be shot were Marvin Lezor Kpea-ue and Raymond Ledogo, along with some others at the INEC Collation Center in Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, on Sunday morning of March 10, 2019.
The PDP in a statement issued in Port Harcourt said the F-SARS Commander, in company of scores of SARS officers and military men, also carted away all election materials at the Collation Center, after shooting the men.
A soldier and five other persons were killed while several others sustained injuries in the violence that trailed the Presidential and National Assembly elections in Rivers State.
The soldier, a lieutenant, was among persons said to have been killed at Abonnema, headquarters of Akuku Toru Local Government Area, while a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Chairman of Andoni Local Government Council, Chief Mowan Etete, was killed alongside his elder brother and cousin in Asarama.
The police however, have confirmed the death of the soldier and two others, while the army was yet to react to the death of the soldier as at the time of going to press.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Nnamdi Omoni (DSP), while confirming the incidents, said Etete was in his house when unknown gunmen scaled the fence, entered the house and killed him and his brother.
In a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary Chris Finebone, APC said one of its ex-officio members of State Executive Committee, Ignatius, was also shot dead at Ajakaja, also in Andoni by suspected thugs.
Also, an unconfirmed number of persons believed to be members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were killed following the eruption of violence before the commencement of accreditation and voting in Asari-Toru, Akuku-Toru and Degema Local Government Areas of the state.
At the end of the wars, Governor Wike dedicates his victory to God and Rivers People killed in defence of democracy. Speaking after he was declared duly re-elected by the 2vh Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday at the Government House, Port Harcourt, Governor Wike expressed gratitude to the people for standing by the PDP despite the illegal actions of the enemies of democracy.
He said: “I want to thank the people of Rivers State for showing the kind of love we have never seen before. I thank them for showing the kind of support we have never seen before. He thanked PDP members for their show of courage, despite intimidation by security operatives who illegally wanted to change the will of Rivers people.
“Those who died not because they were criminals, but because they wanted to defend their votes. We dedicate this victory to God those who were killed. They protected our votes and they defended us. We pray God to grant their families the strength to bear the losses. We shall continue to support the families,” he said.
2015 echoes
In the 2015 elections, the APC said they lost 100 members to attacks staged by others. Families were wiped out and important men were beheaded especially in the Onelga, Emuohua and Abonnema axes. Four soldiers were killed in Abonnema. Their anger is that to this moment, nobody has been prosecuted for any of those killings, even for the killing of a police corporal at the Okrika square during an APC rally.
Lessons
Key lessons jut out in the elections even as the injuries seem fresh. The political parties must soon begin review of the issues at the elections and how the masses bought or failed to buy them.
Zoning in trouble
The first is whether zoning is still alive in the state and if it would play any future role. When Chibuike Amaechi was fighting for a riverine governor in 2015, he warned the riverine people supporting an Ikwerre candidate (Wike) to note that if they defeated zoning, it may be goodbye to the riverine people for a very long time to come. He said the agenda of Ikwerre south which Wike was flying would mean that there would be Ikwerre West candidate next, and Ikwerre east candidate and Ikwerre central, and on and on.
Results have shown that Wike won in all but two local councils out of the 23. This may be regarded as a referendum on zoning. The upland people may thus govern for as long as they want to, except another magnanimous man would emerge like the Alagbo, Tonye Graham Douglas, who in 1998 single handedly said enough to domination by his people so Ikwerre or upland people could taste power. Ever since then, the upland has kept and rotated power to themselves. The massive votes to another Ikwerre candidate and the presence of Isaac Wornwu of Labour Party in the race seem to be an indication that any person can be governor, henceforth.
PDP is the choice of the Rivers people
Before now, the APC made bold statements detailing how Wike had misruled the state and how the masses were angry. The party asked the masses to revolt with their votes. Though the APC was knocked out of the ballot by the courts (via Magnus Abe, said to be backed by Wike), the APC’s move to back Awara Biokpomabo of the African Action Congress (AAC) got only about 150,000 votes where Wike got over 850,000. This shows that the masses are not angry with Wike.
Instead, the people of the region seemed to be angry with Amaechi for pushing a fellow Niger Deltan out of power. With that in mind, they see Wike as a patriot and whatever he does seems right. It is his political asset as far as eastern and south eastern Nigerian politics is concerned. The message sees clear to Amaechi on that. He may be right in his ideals but most people in the region seem to make up their minds on that.
Projects are all okay
Wike has built a strong brand as Mr. Projects, a name that was inadvertently given to him by APC’s Yemi Osinbajo, the vice president, for embarking on many projects. The VP may not have intended to sell Wike, but may have wanted to humour him in public. Wike, the consummate politician, grabbed it and turned it to a brand, and always quoted his enemies as having admitted to his prowess in project execution. Every eraser used by the APC to clean the sobriquet has rather etched it deeper.
The APC keeps harping on lack of a governance blueprint and an economic plan as well as a strong cabinet or economic team. These sound Latin to the masses. They seem to connect with one project after the other which they can see.
The massive votes show that Wike is doing what the people want, and these people also include professors and professionals who should know better. So, a consummate politician is one who knows what the masses want and gives it to them. After all, democracy is the rule of the majority.
Despite that, some insiders say the governor would need to begin a shift to economic agenda, empowerment, job creation, and other programmes.
Conclusion
The Rivers State election is more of a referendum than a vote for a governor. The significance, goodies, and consequences will continue to emerge as time runs. For now, the people have spoken.
Ignatius Chukwu
