Police unfold grave nature of Post-election violence

THE police unfolded yesterday a picture of how grave the post-election violence in the North was.
Police chief Hafiz Ringim said no fewer that 520 persons including six policemen, died in Kaduna and Niger states. Of this figure, 518 died in Kaduna State alone.

In the two states, 157 churches, 46 mosques, 1,435 houses, 437 vehicles and 219 motorcycles were burnt during the mayhem that followed the announcement of President Goodluck Jonathan as winner of the April 16 election. Ringim said 45 police properties were razed down.

Ringim spoke in Abuja yesterday at an event to review the last general elections.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chair Prof. Attahiru Jega, National Security Adviser (NSA) Gen Owoye Azazi and former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Mohammed Uwais also spoke at the event.  

Ringim’s paper, presented on his behalf by Assistant Inspector General of Police Felix Ogbaudu, is entitled: “2011 General Elections’ Review: Experience-Sharing, Lessons Learnt and the Way Forward – The Nigeria Police Perspective.”

Ringim said 22, 141 persons became internally-displaced in Kaduna State; 77 persons were injured.
He said in Niger State, two persons were killed, four injured. Eight churches, seven mosques, seven houses and seven vehicles were burnt, damaged or destroyed.

The police chief said: “The Police had to contend with a number of challenges ranging from inadequate logistic support and manpower, among others.

“Some of these problems were created due to non-compliance with Section 129 (2) occasioned by the agitation by some politicians who insisted and urged their supporters to stay back after casting their votes to ‘defend their votes’ – whatever that meant.”

He also blamed the high level of illiteracy, unemployment and the culture of impunity for the violence, adding that late arrival of election materials, use of vehicle headlamps to illuminate vote collation processes, along with the activities of political thugs, created additional challenges for the police.

Ringim urged INEC and political parties to step up voter education to stem the misconception associated with the electoral process. He called for strict legislations, including at least six years’ imprisonment, for crimes, such as illegal possession of fire arms.

The IGP’s statistics did not include other places where violence took place, including Bauchi State where 10 Youth Corps members were killed. Many public and private houses were burnt in Bauchi. 
The chairman of the occasion, Justice Uwais, said although the 2011 elections were not perfect, they were a remarkable departure from the failures of the past.

“Nowhere in the world do we have a perfect election; what we strive to do is to have a near-perfect election. The last election has come and gone, but they have left behind their foot prints which we can use to improve on future elections,” he said.

Jega said INEC had learnt a lot of lessons from the elections. He said the introduction of inter-agency networking among security agencies significantly helped to curb violence and electoral offences.
“The election was not perfect; we are, however, glad that like we promised, the election was a remarkable improvement over what happened in 2007.

“We learnt lessons in the areas of operation, logistics, planning and preparations. We know that in the past, there were a lot of issues with both the reality and perception about the activities of staff and ad-hoc staff of INEC.”

“For some people, once their party or candidate fails to win, elections are no longer perfect. Issues of poverty, ignorance and so on are real challenges,” said Jega who also urged recourse to the judiciary instead of violent protests.

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