“Why Thuggery, Election Violence Persist” – Comrade Oshiomhole Reveals

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Adams Oshiomhole has expressed deep concern over the wanton killings, thuggery and harassment associated with Nigerian politics, saying the crimes have continued to fester because of poor or lack of law enforcement. He was speaking when he led other party executives on a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Embassy in Beijing, China.

Reacting to the murder of the woman leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi, Mrs. Salome Acheju Abuh, who was burnt alive in her home by suspected political thugs, Oshiomhole said it would be the shame of the Nigeria Police and of the security agencies if anybody pretended that the perpetrators could not be found. “And if they find the person, they should bring him to justice. Our laws are clear.

There’s no state in Nigeria where murder does not result to death penalty. If those involved in that crime are to be properly and diligently prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to death and the governor signs the death warrant and they are executed, things will change for the better. “We have serious problems with law enforcement. And until we get our law enforcement right, Nigeria has a problem,” he said. On the party, Oshiomhole said it was considering establishing an institute for progressive studies to better educate the people on how its leadership style, values and approach to governance and to public service delivery were different from others.

He said that was necessary in a country where “dysfunctional primordial sentiments”, rather than politics of ideas, informed voters’ choice during elections.

“As a result of the confusion even among the political elite, the Nigerian voter can hardly tell why he prefers one party to the other. “Rather than lamenting, we think that we should make conscious effort to put ideas on the table so that we can agree or disagree on the basis of ideas that are shared, and we form caucus or factions on the basis of ideas, as opposed to ethnic, regional or religious sentiments,” he said.

Earlier in his remark, Nigeria’s Ambassador to China, Baba Ahmad Jidda, said though Nigeria is China’s biggest trade partner in Africa, there is a huge gap in favour of Beijing. “Nigeria’s exports to China stood at $1.6 billion, while China exported $12.5 billion worth of goods to Nigeria,” he said, adding “what remains to be done is to bridge the trade gap.” The envoy, meanwhile, appealed for interventions to be released to Nigerian foreign missions without delay.

“We must say that we’re not the complaining type. We’re doing our best with the available resources,” he added. Meanwhile, the party has mocked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the leading opposition party has become “disillusioned” by its victories.

Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu, the APC National Publicity Secretary, in a release issued yesterday, said the PDP had shown “crass and shocking” incapacity to perform the role of opposition. Issa-Onilu said the APC, which believes in democracy and progressive politics, was worried by the “obvious vacuum” that the PDP had created.

The APC said the PDP had failed to provide “rigorous and intelligent interrogation” of the current administration’s policies and programmes apart from engaging in idle chatter, propagation of fake news, post-election delusions and other unpatriotic conducts, stating such move was dangerous for our democracy.