As the nation inches towards the 2011 general elections, the political turf in Kaduna State has continued to be tense, particularly over who occupies the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House as governor after the elections, writes SEGUN OLATUNJI<\/span><\/p>\n The April 2011 general elections promise to be interesting, especially with the array of politicians poised to test their popularity among the electorate. It is, therefore, not surprising that politicians of all hues are now busy oiling their machinery in readiness for the exercise, which is aimed at electing people into the various public offices in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n In Kaduna State, however, fear has continued to grip residents, especially with the increasing wave of politically-motivated violence being unleashed by the supporters of politicians in the state. The residents of the state are worried about what may happen during the elections, if a few days to the polls, the rate of politically-motivated violence has suddenly gone up.<\/span><\/p>\n Lately, politicians in the state have been trading words, making allegations and counter-allegations regarding those perpetrating the violence. The war of words has been mainly between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the opposition Congress for Progressive Change. The supporters of the two parties in Kaduna no longer see eye-to-eye on virtually all issues regarding the election. The tension between the PDP and the CPC almost boiled over on Wednesday last week when alleged supporters of the CPC ambushed and stoned the convoy of Governor Patrick Yakowa during his campaign tour of Lere and Ikara local government areas of the state.<\/span><\/p>\n Were it not for providence and reason that prevailed, the incident would have sparked off another round of violence in the volatile state. This particular incident and the previous ones have, however, continued to generate a heated debate in the state on what the people should expect next. Earlier last week, a coalition of four opposition parties in the state raised the alarm over an alleged plan by the PDP to intimidate and blackmail the governorship candidates of the other political parties in the state ahead of the elections. The opposition parties, comprising the All Nigeria Peoples Party, the CPC, the Peoples Redemption Party and the Action Congress of Nigeria, accused the PDP of using threats to intimidate their governorship candidates with a view to dissuading them from contesting against Yakowa during the April polls.<\/span><\/p>\n The state chairmen of the ANPP, CPC, ACN and PRP, Senator Lawal Aliyu, Alhaji Ahmed Yaro, Mr. Muhammed Soba and Alhaji Haliru Umar, respectively, at a joint news conference, alleged that the PDP had resorted to intimidation and blackmail in its bid to forcefully return the incumbent governor to office after the polls. The opposition parties alleged that since the inception of the current democratic experience in the state, the ruling party had failed to demonstrate any confidence in itself, the electorate, the Independent National Electoral Commission and the various security agencies working in the state. Hence, its decision to allegedly harangue and harass the opposition parties in the state with the use of security agents.<\/span><\/p>\n They said, \u201cOther plans, according to the information, include inducing the Nigerian Police, Kaduna State Command, INEC Kaduna Office, the SSS and the NSCDC Kaduna State to intimidate, harass and disenfranchise supporters of the opposition candidates, as well as rig the general elections in favour of the PDP. The Area Commanders of Zones I and II and nine DPOs from the zones are to be compromised on a monthly basis with large sums of money.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe political wing of the police code-named \u2018Operation Yaki,\u2019 solely established and financed by the state government, is mainly to intimidate the opposition and has received additional funding to enable it execute PDP\u2019s nefarious agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAlso discovered is the plan by the party to place card-carrying members of the party as ad hoc-staff of INEC in the April general elections. We in the coalition of political parties in Kaduna State strongly warn INEC to ensure that genuine members of staff of the commission are recruited for the successful conduct of the April elections. Primary school teachers or local government employees should be engaged in the exercise.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFurthermore, security agencies are to hound any senior member of the opposition political parties who proves \u2018stubborn\u2019 and \u2018recalcitrant\u2019 and they will be given the \u2018Sarkin Gandu treatment.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The coalition alleged that the Sarkin Gandu, the campaign coordinator of the main challenger to the governor during the last PDP governorship primaries in the state, Alhaji Suleiman Hunkuyi, had been in detention in the last four months on the orders of the state government for allegedly opposing Yakowa\u2019s candidature. But in his reaction, the Kaduna State PDP chairman, Alhaji Yaro Usman, challenged the opposition parties to substantiate their allegations. Usman said, \u201cI don\u2019t know anything on this but the claim should be backed by substantive evidence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Also, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr. Reuben Buhari, advised the opposition parties to embark on campaigns to canvass votes rather than merely crying wolf where none existed. Buhari said that although the PDP in the state was in a better position to reply the opposition parties, he, however, accused them of laziness in their campaigns, stressing that Yakowa had been touring the 23 LGAs of the state to appeal to the electorate to vote for him in the polls.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy advice to them is to go and sell themselves to the people of Kaduna State just as we\u2019re currently doing by visiting all the 23 LGs and appealing to the people to vote for us. None of them (the opposition parties) has embarked on any form of campaign tour to any place but they have been busy making funny allegations,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n But following the Wednesday attack on the convoy of Yakowa by some alleged CPC supporters in Lere and Ikara LGs of the state, the PDP stunned the people of the state when it alleged that the CPC had plans to forcefully seize the reins of governance in the state rather than waiting for the conduct and the outcome of the elections.<\/span><\/p>\n Yakowa and his party raised the alarm over alleged frequent attacks on his person and supporters by the members of the CPC, adding that the opposition party was bent on continually unleashing violence on law-abiding citizens in a bid to win the governorship election in the state. The Director-General of the Yakowa Campaign Organisation, Ambassador Sule Buba, who spoke on behalf of the governor and the state PDP, alleged that the CPC planned to seize the reins of governance in the state by force through \u201cintimidation and campaign of calumny,\u201d as well as frequent physical attacks on Yakowa\u2019s convoy and PDP supporters. The governor\u2019s campaign director, who was flanked during the news conference by party chiefs in the state, including the Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Saidu Adamu, called on INEC and the security agencies to act fast by punishing the CPC to stem the rising wave of politically-motivated violence in the state before the elections.<\/span><\/p>\n Buba recalled that on two different occasions, CPC supporters had carried out unprovoked attacks on Yakowa\u2019s entourage. He alleged that the latest attack on the governor by the CPC supporters when Yakowa\u2019s campaign train visited Lere and Ikara LGAs would have sparked off violence if not for the governor\u2019s insistence that his supporters should not retaliate. He said the CPC supporters needed to be reminded that the Nigeria of the 21st Century had developed beyond the level where violence and intimidation could be used to secure people\u2019s votes at the polls. He alleged that the CPC supporters once went on the rampage at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House when the party\u2019s presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, paid a courtesy visit to Yakowa.<\/span><\/p>\n During the alleged rage at the Kaduna Government House, CPC supporters, according to Buba, smashed vehicles and destroyed every other thing in sight, including hoardings around the seat of government while Buhari was conferring with Yakowa. He said, \u201cI will like to join other well-meaning Nigerians to condemn the violent attitude of some politicians, who appear to think they can come to power by force through intimidation and campaign of calumny and to remind them that such antics cannot work in the Nigeria of this 21st Century.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIndeed, it is a pleasure to note that the plot of those agents of confusion failed woefully. By sending a few thugs, mostly children, to attack a convoy of hundreds of vehicles, their desire was for our youths to retaliate so that they can twist the story and accuse us of intimidating the opposition.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFortunately, our youths, in deference to His Excellency\u2019s call for harmonious politicking and respect for the rights of all people to free choice, resisted the urge to fight back. The facts speak for themselves, throughout the campaign activities of the PDP at the state and the national level, check if you can find a single act of either violence or intimidation. You are all witnesses to the fact that in Kaduna and its environs you see our posters being defaced. Our hoardings, which have been constructed with large sums of money, are being destroyed without any provocation. Now, we\u2019re peace-loving people of this country, we\u2019re law-abiding, we always want to be in harmonious relationship with everybody in this country. And as the government in power, we\u2019ll be the last to support any act of violence because violence brings under-development and setback in the affairs of any country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Reacting to allegations by the CPC and three other opposition parties in the state, Buba said, \u201cIt is not true; we have never intimidated anybody. We have never attacked anybody. We\u2019re just going about our peaceful campaigns and in spite of the fact that we\u2019re in government, you see how our governors and the presidential campaign teams have been crisscrossing the nooks and crannies of this country to seek votes from the Nigerian electorate. So, where is the evidence of intimidation from the PDP? It is far-fetched, it is not true.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWell, we\u2019ll continue to appeal to our people to be law-abiding and report any case of breach of the peace and we don\u2019t want any act of retaliation because we wouldn\u2019t like to get involved in such brigandage. We\u2019ll always appeal to them and hope good conscience will prevail and I think it\u2019s high time INEC sanctioned such behaviour.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n When contacted, the Kaduna State chairman of the CPC, Yaro, declined to comment on the counter-allegations by the PDP against his party.<\/span><\/p>\n Political watchers in the state are, however, of the view that the involvement of the CPC supporters in incidences of political violence in the state underscores the allegations being levelled against the opposition party. Analysts are quick to exemplify the inauguration of the campaign of the CPC presidential candidate early this month in Kaduna, when the party\u2019s supporters practically brought the state capital to a standstill. The turn-out of the supporters of the CPC created fear and panic among the residents of the state capital as machete-wielding youths, including some under-age children bearing Buhari and other CPC candidates\u2019 posters, harassed motorists in various parts of the metropolis. Pickpockets operated freely amid the state of confusion created at the entrance to the Murtala Muhammed Square venue of the campaign launch. Around the square, many of the CPC supporters were seen tearing down the posters bearing the pictures of the party\u2019s vice-presidential candidate, Pastor Tunde Bakare, while many others were shouting, \u201cSai Musulumi,\u201d meaning, \u201cWe want a Muslim.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Also, last Sunday, 15 supporters of the CPC were arrested by the police in Zaria for allegedly unleashing violence in parts of the city during a visit by Buhari. The CPC supporters, our correspondent gathered, stormed the palace of the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, demanding his removal. They accused the emir of allegedly collecting N500m from the Jonathan\/Sambo Campaign Organisation to influence other traditional rulers in the North to back the President during the forthcoming polls. The CPC supporters chanted, \u201cGive us new emir\u201d as Buhari arrived at the vicinity of the emir\u2019s palace. The raging CPC supporters demanded a new governor for Kaduna State.<\/span><\/p>\n But for the swift intervention of the police, Zaria would have erupted in violence. The Kaduna State Police Public Relations Officer, Aminu Lawan, however, declined to identify the suspects arrested during the violence in Zaria as CPC supporters. Lawan, a deputy superintendent of police, described the suspects as miscreants who wanted to take an advantage of the CPC rally in the city to harass innocent citizens going about their legitimate activities in Zaria and its environs.<\/span><\/p>\n