From time immemorial, elections conducted in Nigeria are more violent than peaceful and that’s because they are seen as a ‘do or die’ affair with politicians irrespective of party affiliations engage the use of thugs to beat the warm drum
With all parties involved fighting for their individual as well as collective interests, it wasn’t surprising seeing the logjam created in fielding a candidate by the All Progressives Congress in the Kogi Supplementary Elections.
On Monday, supporters of both James Faleke and Yahaya Bello clashed at the APC headquarters in Abuja as the party hierarchy deliberated on the candidate to field as replacement to the late Prince Audu Abubakar.
According to reports, the clash started when two opposing supporters were involved in verbal altercation and as expected with such kind of scenarios and looking at the characters involved, it led to a free for all show as several vehicles were vandalised and no fewer than five persons were injured, some policemen assisted in carrying one of the badly injured person to an undisclosed health facility.
The supporters, carrying sticks and stones, tore at one another as policemen looked helpless and unable to curtail them. Some carrying sticks started chasing one another and the policemen had to take cover to prevent being hit with all forms of missiles.
Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who arrived at the secretariat at about the time the supporters were beginning to go violent, abandoned his car at the gate and had to walk into the secretariat.
A few seconds later, Faleke arrived the scene, sparking off the fight between the supporters who started throwing stones.
