As elections approached, political violence increased across Nigeria. In a small number of high profile cases, there have been arrests, but the vast majority of cases of political violence have not led to prosecution. In recent years, a great deal of violence was associated with jockeying for position within the political parties. The conduct of local government primaries for the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), organised at the state level, resulted in many conflicts, causing countless deaths, injuries and damage to property, as well as stoking resentment and hostility among the candidates and their supporters. With their feelings already running high, many of the same politicians had to face each other again in the general elections after some candidates who lost in the primaries moved into other political parties. This kind of violence has pitted politicians and supporters against each other in a big way. Killings of high profile politicians have continued rapidly, worsening citizens' confidence in the political system even in areas that have not been directly affected by political clashes. The reports of political violence are so numerous that the Human Rights Watch cannot verify whether every incident was in fact politically motivated85. The total number of cases being reported leaves little doubt that political violence poses a grave danger to the rights of Nigerians across the country, as well as to the prospects for a violence-free and peaceful election. As an illustration of the frequency of
85Human Rights Watch (January 4, 2003), ‘Nigeria at the Crossroads: Human Rights Concerns in the Pre-election
reported cases, a non-exhaustive search of electronic media outlets over a two-week period in early March 2003 yielded the following results86:
Early March – Sokoto: PDP/ANPP clash between armed supporters (Oyerinde, A. This Day, March 8, 2003);
March 2 – Enugu: ANPP gubernatorial candidate petitions police regarding telephone calls threatening assassination if he does not give up his bid (Uko, U. This Day, 2nd March 2003);
March 3 – Ebonyi: State chairman for the ANPP reports shooting attack on him while in vehicle (“Ebonyi ANPP Boss Escapes Assassination,” This Day, 8th March 2003); March 4 – Edo: At least one person killed in PDP/ANPP clash after PDP state governor's
campaign convoy is attacked; bus and several houses burnt (Amaize, E. Vanguard, 6th March 2003);
March 4 – Ekiti: State ANPP leader dies of injuries from acid attack in late December (Ekiti AD Women’s Leader Dies of Acid Attack” Vanguard, 5th March 2003);
March 5 – Abuja: Marshall Harry, ANPP Vice Chairman for the South-South Zone, shot dead in his Abuja residence (Amaize, E. This Day, 5th March 2003);
March 6 – Cross Rivers: Several supporters injured and four cars vandalised in attack on ANPP senatorial candidate's convoy (Uneze, A This Day, 8th March 2008);
March 10, 11 – Kebbi: PDP/ANPP clash in which two reported seriously injured, eleven homes burned, fifty-three people arrested (“Two Seriously Injured, 53 arrested over Clashes in Nigeria,” Agence France-Press, 12th March 2003), etc.
In some cases, political violence was carried out in locations where violent conflict was already a problem. This was the case in parts of the Niger Delta, for example, and in central states such as Taraba, Benue, and Plateau that have experienced scores of violent inter-communal clashes in the last few years. The elections also appear to be creating a new reason for fighting87
. Disturbing
86Dretke, J. P. A Christian Approach to Muslims, p. 45. This is just a sample of reports during this period; it does not
cover all reported cases and does not include the many cases that never reached the national media.
87Dretke, J. P. A Christian Approach to Muslims. In July 2002, two people in Taraba were reportedly killed and
twenty injured in inter-factional disputes at the PDP primaries (Agence France-Press, July 6, 2002). “In Benue, a conflict between the PDP and the ANPP on February 18, 2003, led to at least seven deaths in Jato-Aka, the hometown of the ANPP's gubernatorial candidate Paul Unongo as well as of the governor's special adviser on political affairs, Orya Korinjo. The crisis was apparently triggered by the killing of a guard at a hotel owned by Paul Unongo. According to media and other accounts, the guard was killed by PDP supporters, although a representative of the government claimed he was killed due to infighting among ANPP thugs who then used the killing as an excuse to begin attacking PDP supporters. Unongo's supporters responded by attacking PDP members in Jato-Aka. ANPP supporters attacked and killed Korinjo's elderly father with machetes and burned his home. At least four other
reports of politically motivated violence continue to emerge from across Nigeria. Oyerinde remarks that in these case studies, “politicians or their close political supporters were responsible for committing violence for political ends”88. In most of the cases, there has been little or no progress in bringing the perpetrators to justice. It is worth repeating that the cases presented above or described elsewhere in this project do not exhaustively describe all incidents of political violence in Nigeria.
2.3.6 Succession and dethronement conflict
Conflicts over chieftaincy in the traditional institutions have been on the increase in Nigeria, particularly in the last twenty years. The military found traditional rulers useful in the bid to legitimise itself in office, having dismantled the democratic structures. Though the power/influence of traditional rulers has diminished over time, the economic interest attached to those offices and the calibres of persons seeking them have continued to be a source of stiff competition and rivalry. Attempts to influence the government to favour one candidate against another have empowered the government to become an active participant in the selection process as opposed to the known traditional methods. This has led to the politicization of traditional institutions and the proliferation of chieftaincy thrones. Where the interest of the government of the day is perceived as threatened, the occupant of the traditional throne is removed without regard to due process, which always results in conflict. A classic example is the manipulation of the Sultan’s selection and dethronement during the Babangida and Abacha regimes. Similarly, in the South West, the fracas that ensued as a result of the contest for the vacant throne of the Olowo of Owo has been politicised with different political parties endorsing different contestants. Field reports also suggest that the flow of state resources through traditional leaders is a cause of widespread concern89.
PDP supporters were reportedly killed, and several other homes destroyed. Again accounts vary as to whether this was strictly a reprisal attack or whether there was fighting between the two groups. In a press statement in early March, the police announced that ten people had been charged with arson and conspiracy to commit murder, and that three others, including local PDP and ANPP politicians, were wanted by police in connection with the killing.”
88Oyerinde, A. "No one died in party clash–Police", This Day, 8th March 2003, pp. 29-37. 89Short, C. Statement to International Development Committee, p. 13.