The attacks on the President

NIGERIA’s political history as far as elections are concerned,leaves no crumbs for comfort.At best,it reminds us of how we got here. And this should surprise nobody.Violence,thuggery and rigging are common features that contributed in no small measure to the collapse of past republics.In the words of Archbishop Matthew Hassan Kukah,these are the “trinity” that have marred our electoral process.

It’s in this connection that when the Presidential candidates in next month’s elections signed a peace pact and embraced each other,we all hailed it.That was why the picture of President Goodluck Jonathan and that of the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Muhammadu Buhari,made the front page of many newspapers a day after the pact was signed in Abuja.
But few weeks after,our worst fears are coming back thick and fast.What we fear most seems to have come upon us.As bad as our past political  experience
was,one can’t recollect of any incident where an incumbent President seeking re-election has had his convoy  attacked,or satchet water thrown at his convoy for no justifiable reason.That’s insane.That’s the dark side of our politics that portends danger to the forthcoming elections.
If the life of the President is threatened,who then is safe?   In less than three weeks,political thugs have attacked the President’s campaign train in Kano,Katsina,Bauchi and  Jos,Plateau State.In the case of Bauchi,where two operatives of the Directorate of State Security were injured and hospitalized,stones and satchets of water were allegedly thrown at the President’s convoy.
Who dunnit? While thugs allegedly sponsored by the opposition APC have been fingered in the ugly incidents in Kano,Katsina and Jos,that of Bauchi has a curious ring to it.Was it orchestrated by APC or members of the State PDP operating from far away Abuja as alleged by the State Governor,Alhaji Isa Yuguda?
The Governor’s version of the attack in a British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC)Hausa Service over the weekend sounds bizaare and unbelievable.This is what Gov.Yuguda  said on BBC two days ago,”I am sure and let the world know that the people who did this thing were PDP members and those politicians in Abuja.They found these youths on the road and gave them brooms and satchets of water and they instructed them that when the President is passing they should raise the brooms and satchets of water at him”.According to Yuguda,a top member of the PDP,the target was to demonize him and pitch him against the President.How true is this? Well,in Nigeria,nothing is beyond our politicians.But,to me,the logic of Alhaji Ibrahim Jalo,deputy National Publicity Secretary of PDP makes better sense.He asks a pertinent question:How can the ruling party be the one organising the stoning? Well,I don’t know! He
pushed the question to the State governor to answer. That would amount to a house divided against itself. Or better still,an equivalent of a “Mutually Assured Destruction(MAD).
Whichever way,the attacks on the President,by all accounts,is despicable and an affront on democracy.It also negates the peace pact entered into by the Presidential candidates early this month on behalf of their parties.It also raises concerns that the elections might be a “do or die” affair.
Beyond that,it does not speak well of the maturity of aspiring political leaders.In short,it offends all known laws meant to bring sanity and decency into our electoral process as the attack contravenes section 227 of the 1999 Constitution(as amended)as well as sections 94 and 95 of the Electoral Act and sections 5-8 of the Public Order Act and Article 3 of the Political parties Code of Conduct freely agreed to,and adopted by all the political parties.
Section 7 of the Code states explicitly that during campaigns,no political party or candidate should resort to the use of inflammatory or indecent language,provocative actions, images or manifestations Mthat incite violence,hatred,contempt or intimidation against another party or candidate or any person or group of persons on grounds of ethnicity or gender or for any other reason.
Besides,section 14 of the Code is specific that “no political party or candidate shall prevent other parties or candidates from pasting their posters or distributing their leaflets ,handbills or other publicity materials in public places. The Code therefore urges all parties and candidates to give directives to their members or supporters not to remove,deface or destroy the posters of other parties or candidate.
In spite of these provisions, President Jonathan has come under a volley of attacks.In many states,such Rivers,Lagos,Kano,Katsina,Kaduna, Plateau ,Abuja, Bauchi,Nasarawa,Adamawa, Borno, several acts of vandalism have been visited on the President’s campaign train.Some of his billboards have been reportedly destroyed and his posters as well.
Perhaps this is a torch of provocation by the main opposition party or even some dissidents within the President’s own party. This is why the directive by the Inspector General of Police,Suleiman Abba to all zonal Assistant IGP and command commissioners to crackdown on political thugs and their sponsors is a welcome development.The Police high command,should,as a matter of urgency,fish out those behind the attacks on the President’s convoy.Or will the Police high command wait until something more sinister happens?
The President,just like any other politician,should be free to campaign in any part of the country without any molestation.Politicians should take responsibility for any misconduct of  their supporters.Much to their frustration,and perhaps sensing defeat, the premeditated attacks on the President could be a way of provoking the PDP into a retaliation that could precipitate crisis.
Recall that the President has said many times over that his political ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian. That’s how politics ought to be.In other words,there will always be life after politics. Therefore, if the forthcoming elections will be counted a success,this is the time to shake off the past and let the campaigns go on. We need not to be reminded of how we got here.