Threats, intimidation: INEC and police vow crackdown on politicians

Nigeria’s electoral commission and police are promising action against politicians whose rhetoric threatens to inflame tensions ahead of the 2027 general elections. The pledge comes as political mobilisation campaigns increasingly feature statements critics describe as threatening, provocative or capable of inciting violence.

The Independent National Electoral Commission told Sunday PUNCH that the Electoral Act empowers it to act against indicted political parties and candidates. The Nigeria Police Force said incitement is a criminal offence and that anyone found culpable would be arrested and prosecuted.

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as if there’s no tomorrow

Civil society voices, including Yiaga Africa Executive Secretary Samson Itodo and human rights lawyer Jiti Ogunye, said law enforcement agencies should go beyond invitations and warnings. They called for prosecutions where politicians’ statements violate the law.

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Operation Wetie started from here. This is the same Wild Wild West.

Several recent remarks have drawn attention. Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde warned opposition politicians on April 25 against being coerced into joining the ruling party. Speaking in Ibadan, he invoked the political violence that engulfed Nigeria’s Western Region in the 1960s, saying those acting “as if there’s no tomorrow” should remember that “Operation Wetie started from here. This is the same Wild Wild West.”

On May 2, former New Nigeria Peoples Party Board of Trustees Secretary Buba Galadima urged Nigerians to attend polling units with “bottles and jerry cans of kerosene.” He said, “And during the elections, whether I am alive or dead, go to the polling centres with your bottles and jerrycans of kerosene. Either they do what is right, or we all die there. So, there will be no beneficiary.” Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke later said the state would not allow the August 15 governorship election to be rigged and called for a free and fair vote.

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And during the elections, whether I am alive or dead, go to the polling centres with your bottles and jerrycans of kerosene. Either they do what is right, or we all die there. So, there will be no beneficiary.