Cally Ikpe, Ph.D.
Recently, former Deputy Senate President Senator Ovie Omo-Agege made headlines when he declared that anyone who attempts to rig the 2027 general elections in Delta State will die. As expected, the “Rig and Die” remark sparked widespread public outcry, with civic groups and political opponents calling for an immediate retraction. He has not retracted the statement—and likely never will. History suggests he will face no structural or political consequences; in Nigerian politics, inflammatory rhetoric is rarely met with accountability.
Omo-Agege’s declaration is merely the latest entry in a long-standing archive of reckless elite discourse. Ahead of the 2019 general elections, former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai infamously warned that foreign observers who “interfered” in Nigeria’s internal affairs would leave the country in body bags. Years earlier, in May 2012, former President Muhammadu Buhari stoked pre-election anxieties by referencing a violent Hausa idiom (“Kare jini, biri jini”), warning that if the 2015 elections were rigged, “the dog and the baboon would both be soaked in blood.”
When political leaders normalize violent rhetoric with total impunity, it trickles down into public consciousness. Consider the recent arrest of 22-year-old Umar Ibrahim Gandi Maradun by the Zamfara State Police Command. A viral video captured Maradun leading youth in military-style drills while chanting for AK-47 rifles to target Christians in Enugu and Jos. While the Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa’iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS) sect promptly disassociated itself from his actions and law enforcement acted swiftly, critics argue that lower-profile actors like Maradun face swift prosecution, while high-profile political figures issuing incendiary remarks enjoy institutional protection.
While the incident is not an electoral event, it illustrates the wider danger of allowing inflammatory rhetoric, particularly when expressed by influential individuals or imitated by younger people, to go unchecked. It also raises an important question about consistency in the administration of justice. The issue should not be whether the suspect is a prominent personality or an ordinary citizen, but whether the law is applied equally, irrespective of status, influence or affiliation.
These developments underscore a troubling dimension of Nigeria’s political culture. Since independence, the country’s electoral process has repeatedly been characterised by tension, violence and disputes over the credibility of election outcomes.
The 1964 federal elections were marked by widespread political tension, intimidation and violence. The crisis deepened with the 1965 Western Region elections, which became notorious for electoral manipulation, political thuggery, arson and widespread disorder. The violence contributed significantly to the political instability that preceded the collapse of the First Republic in January 1966.
The 1979 elections, which ushered in the Second Republic, were fiercely contested, with Alhaji Shehu Shagari emerging as president ahead of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Although the election was followed by legal and political disputes, it was the 1983 elections that brought electoral violence into particularly sharp focus. Shagari and the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) secured re-election amid widespread allegations of electoral fraud and manipulation.
A particularly disturbing episode occurred in Ondo State, where Chief Akin Omoboriowo was initially declared winner of the governorship election against the incumbent, Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin. The declaration provoked widespread protests and violence across the state. The outcome was subsequently overturned by the courts, which affirmed Ajasin as the duly elected governor. The Ondo experience remains one of the most disturbing illustrations of how electoral manipulation and the perceived denial of the people’s mandate can trigger widespread violence.
The next defining moment was the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, widely believed to have been won by Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. The military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the election, triggering nationwide protests, repression and a prolonged political crisis. The crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations resulted in deaths, arrests and serious human rights abuses. The crisis continued through the subsequent years of military rule until Nigeria’s return to democratic governance in 1999.
By the 2011 general elections, the country had experienced so many cycles of electoral violence that fears of national disintegration were becoming increasingly pronounced. The presidential election, which returned incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan to office ahead of Muhammadu Buhari, was followed by devastating post-election violence, particularly in northern Nigeria. Human Rights Watch estimated that more than 800 people were killed in three days of rioting across 12 northern states. Thousands were displaced, while homes, churches, mosques and other properties were destroyed.
Against this background, the 2015 general elections were widely regarded as a potential turning point in Nigeria’s democratic history. The stakes were exceptionally high, with incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan facing his principal challenger, Muhammadu Buhari. The election was not without tension and irregularities, but the eventual concession of defeat by Jonathan, even before the final completion of the electoral process, proved decisive in calming political tensions. His telephone call to congratulate Buhari was widely celebrated as an exceptional act of statesmanship. The country witnessed a historic and largely peaceful transfer of power from one political party to another.
That experience demonstrated that political competition need not culminate in violence and that responsible leadership can make a decisive difference in preserving national stability.
Many patriots have struggled to accept electoral violence as part of Nigeria’s political culture, preferring to regard it as an aberration that must be corrected. This explains the numerous civic education, peacebuilding and voter-orientation programmes undertaken by government institutions and civil society organisations. Laws have also been enacted to criminalise electoral offences and provide sanctions for those who undermine the electoral process. Yet, the persistence of these incidents suggests that legislation alone cannot solve the problem.
Perhaps the enormous financial and political rewards attached to public office, coupled with the desperation to acquire or retain power, have continued to overwhelm the restraint that democratic values ought to impose. A deliberate effort to reduce the excessive attraction of political office, strengthen institutions and make public service more accountable may help reduce the desperation that fuels electoral violence.
Schools, religious institutions, traditional rulers, civil society organisations and, particularly, the National Orientation Agency must also intensify efforts to cultivate a political culture that values tolerance, peaceful competition and respect for the choices of the electorate. Citizens must be made to understand that elections are contests for public trust, not battles to be won at all costs.
Ultimately, however, the most important requirement is accountability. As long as influential political actors can make inflammatory statements, threaten violence or undermine democratic institutions without consequences, while ordinary citizens are subjected to the full weight of the law, the culture of impunity will persist.
Peaceful elections cannot become a national reality where justice is selective, political influence confers immunity and electoral violence is punished only when the perpetrators lack the power or connections to escape accountability. Until this contradiction is addressed, every prescription for violence-free elections will remain largely academic
Cally Ikpe, Ph.D. is a broadcast journalist; founder Nigeria Music Video Awards, and Convener, Road to a Violence-free Nigeria Initiative. He contributed this piece from Abuja. contact: cally_ikpe@yahoo.com
