Our friends living in Port Harcourt have constantly drawn our attention to the ongoing political killings in Rivers State of Nigeria. According to them, some people have been beheaded while some were set ablaze alive. Cruelty of the highest order one would say! The state government has dismissed the killings as cult related albeit it has not come out to state what steps it is taking to curb the crisis. The federal government has deployed the military to some volatile areas to help check these killings and save the populace. The All Progressive Congress (APC) has commended this move but the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has spoken emphatically against the presence of the military terming it political.

Indeed the re-run elections for federal and state legislators coming up in Rivers state on the 19th of March has heated up the policy as expected. The major political parties, the APC (led by the immediate past governor and current Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi) and the PDP (led by former Nigeria’s Minister of State for Education and incumbent state governor, Chief Nyesom Wike) have been at each other trading all manner of accusations which are normal in election situations in the country.

Prominent amongst the accusations is the issue of “federal might” being deployed to APC’s favour. The same thing happened during the general elections last year. Then the APC accused the PDP of using federal might to its favor to the extent that on the election day proper, as was reported in the media, the army brigade commander  in Port Harcourt followed the then sitting governor, Amaechi, to his village to impede his movements. Results sheets were also alleged to be missing at most polling booths. Some people have argued that the PDP is now crying wolf because it has used “federal might” in the past and it is now wary of the  capabilities of the so called “federal might” in our society. It is reported in the media that the Rivers state government has written to the President of the people’s republic of China through the Chinese ambassador to Nigeria urging him to mount diplomatic pressures on the federal government of Nigeria not to deploy “federal might” to Rivers state during the upcoming re-run elections.

However, the worrisome trend this time around is the constant death treats reportedly issued by Gov. Nyesom Wike who happens to be the chief security officer of the state. It was reported in the media yesterday that Gov. Wike issued more threats during the grand finale of the PDP campaign rally held at Elele in Ikwerre Local Government Area.

In his words  “All those who plan to swap result sheets, may their souls rest in peace. Nobody will rig in Rivers State. “Anybody who thinks Amaechi will give them result sheets to swap, should be ready to swap their dead bodies. I have told the REC, you were here before, you can’t play games with me”. “We know their plans. They have arranged how to swap original results on that day. They want to do it with Amina Zakari. Tell them we have passed that stage. Is this how Nigeria wants to change? We heard Amaechi will be moving from polling booth to polling booth. Let him try it. I will show him that I am the Governor of Rivers State. I challenge him to move around. If he dares come to anybody’s polling booth and you see him, beat him thoroughly.”

It has also been reported before that Gov. Wike had once said that those officials coming to conduct elections in Rivers and do anything funny should write their will and say their last prayers. We are afraid that these threats are coming from the state governor and chief security officer. As a role model to many, a leader should always watch the kind of words that come out from his/her mouth. What happened to taking cases to the judiciary like was done before? Must people be incited to main and kill?

Are you in Rivers state? Speak up and tell us what is happening. We have told some of our friends to consider leaving the state this weekend.