Blame The Reactionary Politicians For ‘Operation Wetie’ In The North

By ‘Femi Falana

While we condemn the ongoing violence in strongest term, we appeal to those aggrieved by the results of the ongoing general elections to take advantage of the Electoral Act’s provisions in challenging the parties concerned.

In particular, the political parties that have rejected the results of the presidential election should without any further delay file petitions before the election petition tribunals and the courts. This is in consonance with the basic tenets of democracy and rule of law.

However, members of the Political Class should be held responsible for the orgy of violence that has taken its root across the country because for the past 1 year, the electioneering campaign of the key political figures have been weaved around zoning, ethnicity, religion and other primitive interest. In the process, the masses of our people were sharply divided along this primordial line.

It is common knowledge that the ongoing elections are fought along this line by the political class, in addition to the obscene monetization of the political space. Even, those parading themselves as progressives abandoned their candidate and party during the presidential election and mobilise their members and agents to vote along ethnic and religious lines for another candidate and party. A general election that should have served the most desired purpose of cementing the fragile unity of our country has since further divided Nigeria along the southern and Northern Protectorates.

The media cannot exonerate its members from this self-inflicted crisis. Without any exception, the print and electronic media have continuously glorified men and women of questionable resources and pedigree and assist in promoting divisive politics, contrary to the ethics of their profession and in violation of the Constitution and Electoral Act. Having suppressed progressive ideas and programmes, the media then turn around to allege that no political party with ideology exists in Nigeria. Such fraudulent argument are promoted to give the false impression that a ruling party that have for 12 years sold the assets of  Nigeria to a selected few at give-away prices and, mortgaged the future of our children to imperialism can be said to have no ideology. The ideology of the ruling class is undoubtedly the spread of poverty among our people either from south, west, east or north.

I have been inundated in the last 24hours with calls from Youth Corpers seeking refuge in military and police barracks in Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Taraba, Adamawa and Bauchi. Without adequate guarantee of their security, these stranded adhoc staff of INEC should not be deployed for any election purposes.
We therefore call on our people to stop being used as cannon-fodders in violence instigated by a visionless political class.

We challenge genuine progressive forces and other agents of change to embark on sensitization and mobilization for the liberation of the masses from this colony of KALOKALO politicians.