Editorial
APC Registration: Violence And 2015
As Nigeria draws closer to the 2015
general elections, nearly every
comment and action have tended to be political or traceable to the elections. But why anyone would do anything to threaten the due implementation of the elections remains curious.
Only recently, the registration of persons under the All Progressives Congress (APC) resulted in violence in parts of Rivers State. Such security breaches have forced some persons to wonder what would happen in the 2015 general elections if, ordinary intra-party registration could attract so much bad blood. They are concerned about the safety of their lives, property and the hard earned democracy.
In the Kalabari area of Rivers State alone, a young man was shot dead in Fouchee Community of Degema Local Government Area. Similarly, while some persons in Abonnema in Akuku-Toru and Buguma in Asari-Toru Local Government Areas freely used machetes on themselves on account of the registration, a prominent politician in Oguruama (Old Bakana) in the Degema Local Government Area narrowly escaped death when he ran into the mangrove, but his country home was vandalised. Even a photographer employed to snap those registered had machete cuts.
This, to say the least, is highly condemnable, barbaric and undemocratic. It is unthinkable that anyone would contemplate preventing any other person from exercising his political righ to freely associate, talk less of killing and maiming fellow townsmen at this stage of our civilisation in Nigeria. It is indeed a shame.
The Tide was told that violence broke-out in places where another party claimed ownership. Others say the use of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Ward structures, instead of the offices of APC for the registration caused the crisis. On both counts, political stooges in Rivers State simply made the country a laughing stock in the comity of nations.
Of even bigger source of worry, is the safety of the ordinary citizens during the forthcoming review of voters register which will necessarily bring together members of all the parties. Even more fearsome is the commencement of political campaigns that may result in some persons barring others from campaigning in some areas if the needed action is not taken.
The Tide believes that the change that can be made in 2015 is a function of how this rape on civility is addressed. It is only natural that perpetrators of violence and murder during the registration of APC members be properly investigated and culprits made to face the full wrath of the law. To pretend that nothing happened is to endorse political violence across the clime.
It must be stated, and clearly too that every Nigerian, except those barred from playing partisan politics by law, are free to join any political party of their choice. On the other hand, every citizen should be free to vote for any candidate or political party of his or her choice. This is a fundamental right of all citizens and the true beauty of democracy.
That is why those who lost their sanity and attacked fellow countrymen over party registration should hide their faces in shame. They should also know that they did not only deny some people their rights, but offended the laws of the land.
Finally, we appeal to the political class to stop and ponder over the following questions: If they maim the same Nigerians whose mandate they seek, the ones that own the sovereignty, what future do they foresee for themselves? What future would they be leaving for the unborn? What impression do they present to the global community?
Besides, politics is meant to better the lot of the people and not destroy them. We know that violence has always consumed its perpetrators in the end. Therefore, good politicians should work hard to defend our hard-earned democracy. This is because “evil only thrives where good men do nothing.”
There are moments in the life of a legislature when plain speaking becomes a public service. Senator Adams Oshiomhole provided such a moment on the floor of the Senate when he accused the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, of manifestly neglecting critical federal arteries in Edo and Delta States, and implored his colleagues to prevail on the Minister to adopt a more equitable and genuinely national approach to road infrastructure delivery. It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it was necessary.
The specifics of his complaint deserve restating. Drawing attention to the recent approval of some 20 new road projects despite the parlous state of existing ones, the former Edo State governor lamented that Nigerians cannot travel from Benin to Warri, Benin to Asaba, Benin to Auchi, or Auchi to Okene without encountering severe distress. He alleged a deliberate omission of these corridors from the national budget in the last three years, save for palliative interventions directed by President Bola Tinubu through tax credit arrangements. His question — “What have we done wrong?” — resonates far beyond the chambers of the National Assembly.
We lend our full and unequivocal support to that call. The Auchi-Benin Road, for instance, has been in a deplorable and near-impassable condition for several years, turning what should be a two-hour journey into an all-day ordeal of broken axles, extortionate fares, and despondent commuters. The media have, on multiple occasions, chronicled the suffering of motorists, traders, and students who ply that route. To describe it as a federal road today is to stretch the meaning of the term beyond recognition.
This pattern of sidelining is not confined to Edo or Delta. Even here in Rivers State, the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Works has left much to be desired, particularly along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road. That road, which ought to be a flagship of federal presence in the Niger Delta, has remained in a wretched state for long. Those who use it daily — workers at the Eleme Petrochemical Complex, the two refineries, Onne Port, and the countless ancillary industries — can attest to its deterioration. Work has proceeded in fits and starts without the sustained urgency such a strategic road demands.
The Eleme stretch is not a mere intra-state byway. It is the gateway to the nation’s economic jugular. According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing’s 2023 Highway Condition Survey, only about 35 per cent of the country’s 36,000 kilometres of federal roads are rated as being in good or fair condition, with the remainder classified as poor or very poor. The East-West Road, conceived in the 1970s to bind the entire Niger Delta, remains unfinished in critical sections more than four decades after. If it had been treated as a priority, the perennial gridlock, carnage, and economic loss on the Eleme-Refinery junction would have long been consigned to history.
The irony is as painful as it is glaring. The Niger Delta remains the goose that lays the golden eggs. Data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [NEITI 2023 Oil and Gas Audit] show that the region still accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria’s federally collected export earnings and about 65 per cent of total government revenue. The National Bureau of Statistics [NBS Foreign Trade Report Q4 2024] similarly confirms that crude oil continues to dominate export receipts. By every metric of equity and economic logic, a region that sustains the national purse deserves first-rate consideration in the allocation of infrastructure, not afterthoughts and tokenism.
Road infrastructure is not largesse to be dispensed by favour; it is the skeleton upon which commerce, cohesion, and citizenship hang. When contracts are concentrated in one geopolitical zone while other zones are left to contend with craters, it erodes trust in the federation itself. The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update [June 2023] estimated that poor transport connectivity inflates the cost of moving goods by up to 40 per cent and costs the Nigerian economy an estimated $1.5 billion annually in lost man-hours and vehicle maintenance. If we profess to be one country, then equity must be the compass that guides key institutions before any project is executed. Development must spread round, not pool in one place as though other regions do not matter.
There is also a grave security dimension that can no longer be ignored. The deplorable condition of federal roads has become a veritable enabler of criminality. The NBS Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey reported over 2.5 million incidents of kidnapping-related occurrences nationally, with transport workers identifying bad road spots as prime ambush points. When vehicles are forced to crawl at 10 kilometres per hour through failed sections at Auchi, Sapele Road, or Eleme, they become sitting ducks for armed gangs. Fixing bad roads, therefore, is not merely about convenience; it is about safeguarding lives.
By his intervention, Senator Oshiomhole has hit the nail on the head and reminded Minister Umahi of a fundamental constitutional truth: public office is held in trust. The Ministry of Works is not a personal estate where contracts are awarded according to whim or political convenience. It is a national institution funded by the collective resources of Nigerians, including the oil and gas rents from the very communities whose roads are now neglected. The Minister must demonstrate balance, transparency, and a pan-Nigerian outlook in the distribution of projects that impact the daily existence of citizens. Selective neglect breeds suspicion, and suspicion is corrosive at a time when the nation is preaching unity, oneness, equity, and justice.
Consequently, the National Assembly must go beyond rhetoric and assert its oversight powers with vigour. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution [as amended] empower the legislature to investigate and expose any maladministration in the execution of federal projects. If an office holder is not acting rightly, it is the duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives to call him to order. Oversight must not be reduced to budget approval ceremonies; it must translate to field verification, public hearings, and insistence that the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in Section 14(3) of the Constitution, reflects in road awards.
Let the Auchi-Okene, Benin-Warri, Benin-Asaba, and Eleme East-West gangways be restored to motorable dignity. Let priority be given to completing existing, economically vital roads before embarking on new ones. If those who, through their resources, sustain the federation are sidelined in the distribution of tangible dividends, it tells poorly of our nationhood. Bad roads must be fixed, and they must be fixed now, with fairness as the guiding standard.
