CPC's Justification Of Post Election Violence Is Condemnable - Presidency

THEWILL, May 10, - Speaking through its legal adviser, Abubakar Malami, the CPC was today widely reported to have justified the post election violence that happened in parts of the country following the presidential elections as a reaction to a determination by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to win "the elections by any means."

This attempt by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to justify the unfortunate carnage and bloodletting is vexatious in the extreme. It amounts to rubbing salt on the raw wounds of families who lost dear ones, and those who were maimed and lost valuable property to the carnage. It also amounts to an open admission that the party’s supporters were indeed behind the violence, and that the party may well have planned it all.

Malami went ahead to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by drawing rather disingenuous parallels between these obviously orchestrated riots and the Western region crisis of the first republic. His words: “We recall the anger of of the people of the Western region in 1965 and the people of Ondo state in 1983 against the use of federal might to dislodge opposition governments in the South West in favour of the ruling parties at the federal level with concocted results”.

What Malami failed to explain to Nigerians was why these riots and killings happened largely in areas where the CPC won and Jonathan lost. He also failed to state that the pattern of voting during the presidential elections in those areas practically replicated the National Assembly elections. But while the CPC hailed the one as free, fair and transparent, it has condemned the other as fraudulent and rigged.

However, it is on record that the election results were collated peacefully at polling unit, ward, local government and state levels without incident in those areas, and that it was at the level of national collation when it became obvious that the CPC had lost woefully that all hell broke loose. Obviously therefore, the riots couldn’t have been as a result of the conduct of the presidential elections in those areas where the bulk of the killings took place.

It is thus extremely shocking that a political party, rather than condemn the killings, justifies them and worse still, with examples that just don’t fit. These blood curdling murders, even of our innocent youth corpers that CPC today tried to justify, are even more disturbing because President Jonathan provided a level playing field for a free and fair democratic contest. This has been acknowledged by the world at large. This was acknowledged by the leadership of the CPC even in the run up to the elections.

It is therefore hard to imagine what purpose these carefully choreographed riots were meant to achieve beyond an attack on those who were believed to have voted against the CPC candidate, and the Youth Corpers who were “guilty” of supervising the process. This can only be the reason why even All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, stalwarts like Alhaji Bashir Tofa were attacked and his home and cars razed. Even the Kano Local Government revenue office was torched, yet that is an ANPP administration. Neither did the rioters spare our revered traditional rulers, as they attempted to burn down the palaces of emirs they believed did not support their candidate openly enough.

The CPC’s justification of murder and arson must be condemned by all. It is wicked, callous and insensitive. Nigeria is a democracy, and a country of laws. It is not a jungle ruled by whim and caprice.

Nigeria is not CPC’s boot camp!
Ima Niboro
Special Adviser to the President,
Media and Publicity
10th May, 2010.