Campaigns: Parties Not Doing Enough To Stop Inciting Comments, Violence – Political Scientists

BY GEORGE OKOJIE, Lagos; ABDULLAHI OLESIN, Ilorin; NNAMDI MBAWIKE, Enugu; AZA MSUE and NONYE EKWENUGO, Kaduna; and ACHOR ABIMAJE, Jos

As campaigns for elective offices get under way, professors of politics have expressed concern over the failure of political parties to rein in their candidates and loyalists ahead of the general election.

They also lamented the inability of parties to have coordinated and uniform campaign messaging at the state level, as was the case in Nigeria’s Second Republic.

LEADERSHIP Friday spoke exclusively with the immediate past president of the Nigerian Political Science Association (NPSA), Prof. Hassan Saliu; political economist, Prof. Anthony Kila; professor of Political Science, Felix Asogwa; professor of Political Science, Ezekiel Major Adeyi and Mass Communication lecturer, Ibrahim Salisu Gimba.

While campaigns for the presidential election began some weeks ago, campaigns for governorship candidates started on September 9, with the candidates unveiling policy agendas centred on security, agriculture, education, healthcare, workers’ welfare and economic development.

In his comment, Kila, said, “The political parties are not doing enough to contain inflammatory rhetoric and electoral violence. Clearly they are not doing enough because, really, it is not in their interest to do enough. We have developed a system that encourages this bad behaviour.

‘’They have not sanctioned bad behaviour, so if somebody stands up and makes threats or makes an undemocratic statement, nothing happens to them.

‘’Where there is no consequence, evil triumphs, because the reason why this persists is their consent. That is an internal thing, because they are billed to pay a price. That is why crime does not pay in some parts of the world, but we have created a system where it is good to be bad because the bad benefit from it. They have turned it into the norm.”

On the possibility of having a uniform manifesto for political parties, the professor of Strategy and Development said, “When we think of having a uniform manifesto like the one we had in the Second Republic, it makes one nostalgic.

out of their own free will, to do good things. In reality we have to force them to do good. We have to shame the bad ones. We have to tell them and insist: tell me how you plan to reduce unemployment. It is an elite problem, starting from you.”

Also, Prof. Hassan Saliu, said the political parties seem not to be ready for campaigns.

He stated this during an interview with LEADERSHIP Friday in Ilorin.

Saliu said, “For now, there is nothing really on the ground to suggest that the parties are gearing up for campaigns. Despite the mounting inflictions of our own brand of politics, what parties are doing, in my view, is resource mobilisation and what they call ‘door-to-door campaigns’ — which is a disguise for money distribution.

 

“On the issue of violence, I pray we do not experience it, even though the signs are there due to the almost equal strength of the parties involved. The stakes are high in the gubernatorial contest in Kwara State.

 

“However, I expect the parties to talk directly to the issues of poverty, the widening gap between the government and citizens, a fairer regime for the distribution of projects, youth empowerment, and other issues bothering the people. One only hopes they do when the campaigns start. Are we going to see any change? I pray we do.”

 

He added, “I doubt if there will be a unified manifesto for the parties in the coalition. Instead, we may have to see an alliance in campaigns that will put the ruling party in the state on the spot.”

 

*Political Parties Not Doing Enough To Contain Violent Rhetoric Of Candidates – Prof Asogwa*

Professor of Political Science at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Professor Felix Asogwa, declared that the different political parties in the country are not doing enough to arrest the violent rhetoric of their candidates.

 

In an exclusive interview with _Leadership_, the renowned political scientist maintained that unlike in the Second Republic when party discipline and control were very strong, candidates are now more powerful than their parties.

 

Asogwa maintained that candidates now drive the political process instead of their parties, adding that the reverse is now the case.

 

He further disclosed that unlike in the Second Republic when primaries were democratically done, candidates now spend too much to win primaries, believing that the end justifies the means.

 

He said as a result of the development, candidates this time around are not interested in their party’s manifesto.

 

The renowned academic pointed out that parties are now helpless because the candidates spend so much to win the primaries and now drive the process.

 

He, therefore, ruled out the possibility of the implementation of a unified manifesto for all governorship candidates of a political party.

 

“In a quick response, I will not say political parties are, or even will be, able to arrest the violent rhetoric among different candidates. Nigerian politics is becoming more and more violent.

 

“Unlike the Second Republic where party discipline and control were strong, this time around, the candidates drive the process. This time around, the reverse is the case,” he stated.

 

While acknowledging that candidates under one political party are supposed to have a unified manifesto, he ruled out the implementation of a unified manifesto for the candidates.

 

*Candidates Are Engaging In Politics Of Bitterness – Prof Adeyi*

Prof Ezekiel Major Adeyi of the Department of Political Science, University of Jos, said inter-party violent rhetoric is part of Nigeria’s negative political behaviour.

 

According to him, parties devote more energy to rhetorical issues instead of identifying political problems ravaging society and coming up with lasting solutions. The politicians are interested in generating violence and issuing threats that may lead to a breakdown of law and order.

 

In his words, “The parties may not be able to check their candidates, because most of the candidates left a party in protest to join their present party. So they embark on politics of bitterness, and a strong desire to grasp power at all cost.”

 

The political scientist also insisted that injustice and lack of internal democracy make electioneering toxic and volatile, beyond what the party leadership can control.

 

He further explained that political offices are unusually lucrative, and that those seeking the office are always ready to go to any length in getting elected or retaining the office.

 

Prof Adeyi further maintained that the uniform party manifestos experienced in the Second Republic cannot be experienced in this dispensation, for three main reasons.

 

According to him, moneybags have taken over the party and would not submit to party rules. The cost of nomination forms is so high that when they pay heavily, they see themselves as owners of the party, hence they will design manifestos according to their wishes, not in line with party leadership.

 

“Again, party membership is no longer permanent. Politicians move to other parties at will, so a common manifesto is not workable,” he said.

 

*Parties Not Doing Enough — Varsity Dons*

A lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication at Kaduna State University (KASU), Ibrahim Salisu Gimba, has said political parties are not doing enough to curb violent and inflammatory rhetoric ahead of the commencement of governorship campaigns on Wednesday.

 

Gimba, who spoke in an interview with our correspondent, said both ruling and opposition parties had, at various times, contributed to political tensions rather than taking adequate steps to prevent violence.

 

He said the major challenge was not the absence of laws but the failure to enforce existing electoral provisions against politicians whose statements could incite violence.

 

“Already the laws are there. It is just the issue of enforcement,” he said.

 

Gimba called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to be allowed to perform their duties independently and ensure that anyone found guilty of inciting violence faces the consequences of the law.

 

He warned that failure to sanction inflammatory conduct by members of the ruling party could encourage opposition politicians to engage in similar behaviour.

 

On whether a unified manifesto for all governorship candidates of a political party, as practised during the Second Republic, could still work in the present political environment, Gimba disagreed.

 

He said the Second Republic could not be directly compared with the present situation, citing changes in population, education and the security situation as factors that had significantly altered the country’s political environment.

 

According to him, the differences between the two periods are too significant for the same political model to be applied today without taking contemporary realities into consideration.

 

Another KASU lecturer, Godwin Atile, said unless government makes political office unattractive, the issue of tension will continue among politicians. “Politics in Nigeria is becoming like a do-or-die affair for politicians. It should not be like that. Political actors are supposed to play the game according to rules and the laws. If government makes political offices unattractive, it will reduce tensions among politicians,” he said.

 

*Dr Pearse*

For Dr Adetokunbo Pearse, who is the Kabiru Turaki-led PDP faction governorship candidate in Lagos State: “It is difficult for any political party that doesn’t control social media. All political parties should warn their candidates against violent rhetoric, but violent rhetoric is a minor issue compared to violence on the ground. That is what we should be concerned about, not people abusing people. That is nothing.

 

‘’What is most important is that there shouldn’t be violence on election day or during rallies, when people are gathered together. As of now, so far it is members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that are bringing war to everybody. The governorship election held in Osun State recently was a good example, even that of Edo State held last year and the governorship election held in Ondo State.

 

‘’All what the party members are saying is how to capture votes, as if it is a war. And President Bola Tinubu himself recently, talking to Bishops, said, ‘all in politics is fair game, everything goes’, and his mantra in politics is ‘grab it, snatch it, run away with it’.

 

‘’If you need to talk to anybody to prevent violence on the streets during elections and during campaigns, to talk to political parties and their leadership, it is the APC that should be warned seriously. But what can we do? They weaponise INEC against all the political parties, they weaponise the judiciary against everybody, the security forces are working for them.

 

‘’That is why we in the PDP say if eventually there is no respect for the law in our elections, and if there is wanton rigging, we will take the case to the International Criminal Court. That is where we are.”

 

On the possibility of having a uniform manifesto, he said: “The kind of uniform manifesto we had in the Second Republic has not been the case since 1999, when we started this democratic dispensation.

 

‘’The PDP has its own manifesto and it is very clear: we will empower the people, we will let the votes count, we will obey the law, we will obey the constitution, we don’t grab and capture in an election. That is our own. You will not find any PDP leader that will grab votes, capture it and run away with it.

 

‘’We don’t terrorize people. You saw what happened in 2023: they went and introduced Oro cult, beat up non-indigenes in Lagos State and chased them away from voting units. They even attacked people at their shops. All what you need to do is hold people accountable for what they do.

 

‘’The PDP is known for respect for law and order and fight for democracy. That is why there is so much wrangling in our party, because people are allowed to express their views. And this is where we are. You could see that we did not have any acrimonious primary. We agreed at the national level that there were going to be consensus candidates, and that is all that we had.

 

‘’That is why we are the most peaceful political party. We are only waiting for INEC to do the right thing, to obey the court order that ruled that Anyanwu and co and Wike and his candidates are not members of the party. They just parade themselves, but INEC is still listing them as the candidates. What the media should do now is to be the moral conscience of the country, and hold INEC accountable to do the right thing, to obey court orders.”