September 06, (THEWILL) — It is becoming a fashion, albeit a depravity, among Nigerian Politicians during electioneering to make divisive statements and then claim they were misquoted or that rivals twisted their words to score cheap political points.
First, this development happened in Osun before and during the August 15, 2026 governorship election there. Then, an Abuja Local Council Chairman, followed by a Commissioner in Borno State and the Governor of Ebonyi State.
In Osun, Senator Francis Fadahunsi claimed he was misquoted in a viral video showing him addressing his All Progressives Congress members in Yoruba to kill members of the Accord Party, because of the alleged killing of APC members in his constituency.
He later claimed that what he said was, “kill Accord with your votes.” Yet, after explaining himself to the police, he went to his old self during the voting process when he described constituency members who fail to vote for his party as a fake indigene of Ijesa.
Similarly, the Kuje Council Chairman in Abuja, Samuel Danjuma Shekwolo, threatened citizens with APC membership to maintain their residency in the LGA, while in Borno, the Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation and Sports, Comrade Saina Buba, threatened to break the fingers of any rivals and canned them.
He corrected himself in a statement later, claiming that the remark, made during the launching of City Boy Movement in Maiduguri, the state capital, was directed at members known for anti-party activities.
Even so, is he in the position to penalize members for anti-party activities, or the local party leadership or even the National leadership?
In another instance, the number one citizen of a state, in the person of Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi, reportedly threatened to sack any of the newly inaugurated Local Government Chairmen who failed to deliver their constituencies for the APC in the 2027 poll, saying, “If you allow anybody to come to your local government and mess up, deal with that person mercilessly.”
The LGA Chairmen have taken the battle cry to heart, warning rivals to steer clear of their zones or face their wrath.
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What is alarming in these three examples is that all the actors are either elected or appointed officials of a party.
This means that they all arguably fail to control their emotions at a crucial time of inflamed passions when they were expected to display some form of leadership.
They all also fail to understand that intemperate language can cause havoc in an emotionally charged atmosphere like electioneering, when people are often swayed by rhetoric and clash of opinions and ideas.
Indeed, instances abound in the First and Second Republics, as historians of the period have written, when violence, brigandage and gangsterism were caused by intemperate language deployed by politicians against their rivals.
As the upcoming 2027 election approaches, it is expected that more such condemnable actions from elected and appointed officials will abound if the security agencies fail to act fast before act to stop it.
In the Borno case, for example, the leadership of the OK Movement, a political wing of the presidential candidates of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has alerted the police that the Commissioner should be held accountable if any of its members are molested or attacked in the state before, during, and after the coming elections.
In Osun, Afrobeat music star, David Adeleke, alias Davido, has vowed to ensure Senator Fadahunsi and his ilk would not be re-elected during the January 16, 2027 poll. Thus, the coming poll has already started with built-in tension because of the unbecoming statements of these rabble–rousing politicians.
Given the widespread insecurity and hardship in the country, bad behaviours from politicians should be condemned and stopped before they fuel the already tense atmosphere in the country.
We urge the security agencies to act now. Remarkably, all three politicians are from the governing APC.
The party should also call its members to order and issue, if it does not have one already, a code of ethics to its elected and appointed members. After all, there is a law against hate speech in Nigeria. In this matter, the authorities should invoke it if all else fails.
