The Offa Robberies, Political Thuggery And The Near-Death Of Nigerian Democracy

By Kennedy Emetulu

There is something rotten in the state of Denmark and it’s either we clean it up now or we all die from this stench. This is not an alarmist testament; it is real. The killings and findings following the Offa robberies have provided us an opportunity to cleanse the Aegean stables once and for all.

Thirty-three citizens woke up on Thursday, the 5th of April 2018 to go about their lawful businesses, but they were brutally murdered in cold blood by a group of young people in apparent armed robberies involving six banks in Offa, Kwara State. The banks are the First Bank, Ecobank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank, Union Bank and Ibolo Microfinance Bank. Amongst the dead were 9 police officers, pregnant women and other ordinary citizens. The police have arrested some of those behind the killings, including leaders of the gang and they have allegedly been making confessions. I say “allegedly” because whatever they are saying now has not been tested in a court of law.

In the highly negatively politicized atmosphere we find ourselves as a nation two broad narratives are being championed by different persons and groups in relation to this matter. There are those who think this is another in a long line of actions by the executive in its desperate attempts to frame up leaders and certain vocal members of the Senate and the National Assembly in its mission to cower them as it metamorphoses into a dictatorship. Another narrative says this is a case of Senator Olusola Saraki’s criminality finally catching up with him. However, what is not discussed in all this or what has not been given the full consideration and high visibility it deserves is the problem of political thuggery. I mean, no matter how the case of robbery goes, what is not in doubt here is that these robberies were only possible because of the institutionalization of political thuggery in our nation.

Sure, it is inconceivable that the Senate President and the Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed will arm people for robbery operations. In fact, there is nothing in the confessions so far that we have heard that indicates that Saraki or Ahmed sponsored the boys for the robbery, but there is enough in the accounts that raises questions about the relationship between politicians and political thugs who leverage on their connections to persons in power to murder at will and commit heinous crimes. It is my view that while the law must take its course with regard to the fact of armed robbery and the killings that followed in this very Offa matter, our focus as a nation now must be to use this as a springboard to address the issue of political thuggery in Nigeria.

It is not an issue that President Muhammadu Buhari is in power today or that he and other political leaders have something to gain by prosecuting Senator Olusola Saraki. This is not a fight between the executive and legislature; this is a fight for the soul of our democracy, the soul of our nation. What we have heard so far should sober up all Nigerians irrespective of your political party or affiliations. It is not only the office of the Senate President that has been brought to disrepute, it is not only the Senate or the National Assembly or the Kwara State Government that has been brought into ridicule; it is the whole of Nigeria. Yet, I do not think any of us should be surprised. The 4th Republic has been germinated on the blood of many innocent citizens killed by political thugs and all manner of political and traditional criminals. We’ve witnessed countless assassinations and of late, we’ve witnessed the harvests of deaths and destructions that attended APC congresses nationwide. Are political thugs not the instruments used to perpetuate these? Why have they gone on these killing sprees without apprehension, trial or convictions? The reason is simple – the killers and sponsors are those who have been in government for almost 20 years now, they are the leaders of our country who represent us all over the world. What we are seeing peeping out from this Offa robberies matter are the horned chickens coming home to roost.

The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris and the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami cannot afford to let politics take over this matter. This is one evil that must be crushed for the sake of our nation. The president must immediately direct all investigative and prosecuting agencies to get to the bottom of this matter and follow the rule of law without cutting corners and no matter whose horse is gored. The objective must be to use this matter as an entry point to address the menace of political thuggery once and for all in Nigeria. President Goodluck Jonathan in his time said his ambition was not worth the blood of any Nigerian, President Buhari must tell Nigerians now that no politician’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.

If the President Buhari and his team dedicate themselves to cleansing our political space of political thugs and their sponsors, we would have won half the battle in our fight to sustain democracy because citizens would be able to freely share ideas, agree and disagree democratically without fear for their lives. After what they have been through with Boko Haram and the herdsmen menace, Nigerians deserve some political peace and no better place to start than clearing the place of political thugs and their sponsors. True, we will need to institutionalize the sanity thereafter, but with clear, unequivocal government backing, Nigerians will do the rest. This is because political thugs have been making hay only because Nigerians know that they are the hands of Esau. If Nigerians sense that there is the strong political will to address the problem, they will give the government their full support because they know that they themselves are the real victims of the menace.

In going after political thugs and their sponsors, the police and prosecutors must have strict orders not to be political or partisan because it is the people that will judge them. If they fail, then it is the president that has failed in this mission and we simply cannot afford to fail. Justice must be done and must be seen to have been done. In this very particular case where the Senate President and the Governor of Kwara State and some of his political operatives have been mentioned, the police must be mindful of the political disagreement between the police hierarchy and the National Assembly. But it must not allow this to cloud its handling of this matter. This is not about vengeance and shouldn’t be about vengeance. Anyone invited or questioned must be accorded all the necessary support to get them to help police in the investigation and the police must guard against any attempt by any person or authority to undermine the investigation in any way. They must know that whatever they are putting out now in public space are not the established facts yet, but their findings as the investigation progresses. They must be ready to defend anything they state as part of their investigation and must be ready to discard anything likely to put an innocent man or woman in trouble.

Most importantly, the state must seek the best persons to prosecute this case so the truth of this whole matter is laid bare to Nigerians because this is a teachable moment for the nation. We must not soak 2019 in blood. The ball is in the government’s court and there is no doubt that they need to treat this now with the seriousness it deserves. Fighting political thuggery and fighting real or imagined attempt by the executive to cow the legislature with a view to installing a dictatorship or a glorified dictatorship are not mutually exclusive. True, our nation is yoked with many ills, but this one of political thuggery may just bring down the whole edifice if not handled robustly now. We must not continue to bury our heads in the sand; the time to act is now.

*Kennedy Emetulu, a commentator on public issues writes from the USA