Checking Political Violence In Rivers State

With barely weeks to the first set of elec
tions in Nigeria; the Presidential and
National Assembly, there are growing concerns that political violence will escalate in Rivers State unless urgent and proactive measures are taken by the security forces. On Saturday night, explosions rocked the Okrika Local Government secretariat of the All Progressive Congress (APC) destroying party property.
In Rumueme, victims of another suspected politically motivated attacks counted their losses at the weekend. Earlier, APC supporters heading for the flag-off of the Presidential campaigns at the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium, near Igwuruta also came under fire by unknown gunmen.
Within the same weekend, a vehicle conveying the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates for the House of Representatives, (Ogu/Bolo/Okrika Federal Constituency) Hon Bright Gogo and his House of Assembly counterpart for Okrika Constituency, Mr. Dabotorudima Adams and others was attacked. One of the passengers, a former councillor in Okrika Local Government Council, Mr. Hope George and the driver were reportedly killed. These are only few examples of violence in the land.
Expectedly, in all these instances, affected political parties pointed accusing fingers at opponents, followed by a string of denials and counter accusations, with little heard of police efforts at identifying culprits. Infact, the police seem as helpless as the political parties and indeed the victims.
Prior to the 1999 elections, politically sponsored armed cult groups held sway and wrecked havoc on residents of Port Harcourt and environs. Senseless bloodletting, street wars and violent attacks characterised the period  leading to the elections and even beyond. The processes to the 2003 polls were no different.
Some communities were sacked and many became refugees in their own lands, while, cult king-pins unseated traditional local authorities and became lords to the people.  In those days, countless souls were lost and to date, bereaved families are yet to get over their losses.

Fortunately, that string of violent attacks gave way, with the emergence in 2007, of Rt. Honourable Rotimi Amaechi as Governor. After that, the state enjoyed relative peace until about a year ago when the armed gangs started re-grouping.
Today, it is no longer secret that the dark days that Rivers people prayed fervently to forget, are gradually returning, with countless politically motivated attacks and possible reprisals that portend great danger to the electoral process.
Rivers people must not forget the horrors of the past and unite against the looming violence in the land. Traditional rulers faith based organizations, Youth groups, women Associations, Churches, and the elite must start now to address the trend before it consumes the state as it did, years ago.
Political parties must be reminded that politicians will come and go, elections will be contested, won and lost but the state and its peoples and structures will remain. Therefore, violence of any kind must be discouraged as no body’s ambition is worth any Rivers blood.
The Tide challenges the security forces, particularly the police, to rise up to the occasion by expanding the scope of their intelligence gathering and nip in the bud, any such planned attacks and possible threats to peace. They  must accept the fresh challenge which the rising political violence today poses and fight crime to a standstill.
We understand that the leadership of the dominant political parties, had in previous meetings with the State Police Commissioner, Tunde Bature, assured the police of violence-free campaigns. But it does appear that their followers prefer the opposite or that the leadership did not sufficiently brief their  followers on the dangers of violence.
The police should not be discouraged by the trend and instead continue the conversation with the party leaders while building capacity and  grouping against those who would do everything to undermine the violence-free initiative being canvassed by the police and the party leaders.
In the meantime, The Tide calls on political parties to co-operate with the police in the search for suspects and not hurriedly  blame every attack on opponents, without police verification. Such could only encourage reprisals which outcome can be anyone’s guess.
The 2015 elections should not be considered a war, and Rivers the battle ground. Political parties should be civil and responsible in their search for votes and leave the police to do their duty of clamping down on miscreants and violent persons. Working in synergy, all the parties can together fight the looming political violence that threatens our peace. It is never too late.