Bye-elections violence: Police prosecute 333 thugs, govt officials in Kano, arrest 10 others in Ogun

•Violence confirms Canadian court verdict — Falana

By Henry Ojelu, Bashir Bello, Efe Onodjae, Alaba Oyebanji & Aishat Aliu

THE Kano State police command has arraigned no fewer than 333 suspected political thugs, including some government officials, arrested for attempting to disrupt Saturday’s elections in Ghari, Bagwai, and Shanono Local Government Areas.

Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Adamu Bakori, disclosed this while briefing journalists at the command headquarters in Bompai.

The prosecution is coming as the police arrested 10 suspected cultists who tried to disrupt the election in Ogun.

This is just as human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, said the violence and thuggery that marred the bye-elections confirmed a Canadian court’s ruling, which categorised two leading Nigerian parties, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, as terrorist organisations.

Prosecution in Kano

Bakori said the suspects were charged before different magistrate courts for offences ranging from criminal conspiracy, disorderly conduct, possession of offensive weapons, intimidation, and snatching or destruction of election materials.

Others, he added, were arraigned for solicitation of votes, loitering after voting, and improper use of vehicles during the polls.

According to him, the suspects were “massively imported from within and outside the state to disrupt the electoral process.”

Dangerous weapons

Recovered items included one pump action rifle, five locally-made guns, 94 long sticks, 16 swords, 18 cutlasses, 32 barandami weapons, 18 knives, one bow, 23 arrows, seven catapults, 45 stones, and 14 vehicles.

Also recovered were two ballot boxes, 163 thumb-printed ballot papers, and cash amounting to N4.048 million allegedly meant to induce voters.

“All the suspects have been charged to Magistrate Courts 20, 27, 44 in Nomansland and Magistrate Courts 8 and 53 in Gyadi-Gyadi for prosecution,” Bakori said.

The police boss commended security agencies under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, ICCES, for containing the violence, urging residents to remain law-abiding and view security as a collective responsibility.

It would be recalled that police had earlier on election day confirmed the arrest of 288 suspected political thugs before the figure rose to 333 after further operations.

10 arrested in Ogun

Operatives of Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos, said they arrested 10 suspected members of the Aiye confraternity in Sagamu, Ogun State, over an alleged plot to disrupt the just concluded by-election in the state.

The suspects were said to have gathered in a popular hotel in Sagamu last Friday, ahead of the poll, when information reached the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2, Adegoke Fayoade, who was on patrol in the area.

AIG Fayoade reportedly mobilised a team of detectives from the Dragon Unit, who stormed the hotel and subdued the suspects as they attempted to escape. They were whisked to Zone 2 Headquarters in Onikan, Lagos, for interrogation.

Confession

Police sources said the suspects confessed that a serving member of Ogun State House of Assembly (names withheld) brought them from Lagos and promised them huge sums of money to disrupt the election. They also claimed the politician assured them of access to sophisticated weapons for the operation.

According to investigators, the suspects lamented that the police foiled an “operation that would have given them money,” describing their arrest as a commendable effort.

The suspects

The arrested suspects were identified as Habeeb Mohammed, Olaniyi Okesola, Azeez Idowu, Rasaki Taiwo, Waheed Olugoroye, Godwin Abode, Ayobami Damilare, Folarin Kabiru, Ojelade Tobi and Olanrewaju Sanni.

Police further disclosed that the men were holding a strategy session when they were rounded up. They have since been handed over to the Ogun State Police Command for further investigation and prosecution.

Confirming the arrest, AIG Fayoade said: “This breakthrough is a clear message to those who believe they can use thugs, cultists or hired hands to intimidate voters. The Nigeria Police under my watch will not tolerate violence or lawlessness. We will deal decisively with anyone, no matter how highly placed, who attempts to disrupt the peace.”

Violence confirms Canadian court verdict — Falana

Commenting on the issue, Falana said the violence and irregularities that marred last weekend’s bye-elections confirmed a recent Canadian court verdict branding Nigeria’s two major parties, APC and PDP, as terrorist organisations.

Falana, in a statement titled, “Beyond Judicial Recognition of APC & PDP as Terrorist Societies,” said the vote-buying, thuggery and attacks witnessed at the polls validated the court’s ruling that both parties thrived on acts of terrorism under Canadian law.

He recalled that Justice Phuong Ngo of the Federal Court of Canada had dismissed an asylum appeal by a Nigerian, Douglas Egharevba, on grounds that the APC and PDP were terrorist groups given their history of electoral violence and subversion of democratic institutions.

He said: “The violence, vote-buying and thuggery that characterised the bye-elections conducted by INEC have further corroborated the finding of the Canadian court. In Kano State alone, 288 thugs were arrested, with hundreds more picked up elsewhere, yet history shows they will never be prosecuted.”

Falana faulted the reactions of APC and PDP, describing them as diversionary. While the APC dismissed the Canadian judge as “ignorant and racist,” and the PDP called the ruling “mischievous,” Falana insisted that such responses ignored the real issue of systemic rigging and violence.

He argued: “The truth is that elections are routinely rigged with the connivance of thugs, police and soldiers.

’Citizens who resist such fraud are attacked or killed, and perpetrators are never prosecuted. Instead, tribunals often confer legitimacy on the riggers.”

He also criticised the federal government for protesting diplomatically against the judgment, asking rhetorically if it wanted Canada to quash the ruling or discipline the judge.

He warned that such protests would be ignored since the matter was not a diplomatic crisis.

Falana cautioned that if the judgment stood, its ripple effects could extend beyond Canada, with asylum seekers linked to APC or PDP being rejected in other countries, and members possibly losing visas or facing deportation abroad.

He noted that reckless utterances by past and present leaders had fuelled Nigeria’s reputation for electoral violence, citing Obasanjo’s “do-or-die” remark, Buhari’s “dog and baboon” warning, and Tinubu’s 2023 assertion that power must be “snatched.”

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