It was the kind of event that would be passed off as war and would solidify the career of a general. The atmosphere was tensed, with people running helter-skelter.
There were gunshots, not one, two, three but many. Thugs had attacked the factional secretariat of the party at the centre of the town, constructed under the leadership of another chairman.
Theportcitynews breaking news notification popped on my computer, and I cringed at what we have become. it was too despicable to be praised.
While the ugly melee ensured, Mr Ben Ilodibonye had accidentally run into some of the thugs hired for the poor mission and out of nowhere, they brutalized him to the extent that his left eye was left half broken.
That was the Rivers State he woke up to on that fateful day and would not return home the same way he left his family. But Mr Ben’s children kept asking what happened and without words, he said all that was needed. How could he have known, that the quest for power by a few would earn him a broken eye? Not just that but knowing that nothing was done about it by relevant authorities broke him the more.
While Mr Ben was stewing in pain, with an eye that has been left almost useless, those who sent those who brutalized him were bragging on radio stations, on social media, denying or justifying the very act of terrorism visited on Mr Ben.
The question he kept asking was whether the leader of the attackers is above the law?
Few days before the attack on the party’s factional secretariat, the factional chairman, Nah, the chairman who was handpicked by a senior government official who had also served the state, said on the radio that they will destroy the factional secretariat because it is illegal. Days after, he carried out his threat.
But what is the beauty in using an otherwise illegal means to disrupt an equally illegal arrangement? And the matter has been the subject of a lengthy legal struggle in court, the same court that has declared the convention that brought him to power null and void. Shouldn’t the court be the main decider of that which is legal and illegal? Why has the chairman arrogated to himself, such powers?
But is Ojukaye Flag-Amachree above the law? That is the question that everyone has been asking. Maybe yes given the events of the past.
Fingers were pointed during the bye-election. It was reported that thugs aided by police officers of a usual squad, shot their way through polling units. Nobody died, so they said but the election was cancelled, Nah, suspended.
The police commission in his press conference promised to punish erring police officers who were said to have helped to disrupt the election, including those from government house.
In fact, those on the ground said it was a case of one group of thugs loyal to one party outshooting the thugs loyal to the other party. Confusing as the tales were with visual footages and given the statement issued by INEC and other concerned stakeholders in that shameful election, the name of one man coloured the whole episode.
The police now aide thugs?
But during his much-publicized press conference, he blamed everyone but himself. He equally accused the governor of trying to bribe him with N200 million. That was a generous offer, Nah, lie. Not that the governor cannot bribe him but come on! Why bribe an enemy that is representing someone else?
The event did not surprise anyone who had seen the pressure of the past months. His long career as the chairman of his party for about three months has always been spiced up and tainted with violence but is he above the law or just that Nigeria is too busy with her numerous problems to look into his matter?
Why were he and others of the opposition allowed to move freely during the bye-election despite the fact that the police had restricted movements? Why is it that the chairman speaks violence first before anything?
In the three events that the chairman had intervened; the destruction of high court premises, the attack at the factional secretariat and the bye-election violence, they had the same pattern, employing of thugs to cause widespread damage.
Is this how the state is going to conduct the 2019 election? Should we all be afraid?
