By Ben kerrigan-
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has promised what has been described as ”jungle justice” to all thugs who attempt to compromise the integrity of the Nigerian 2019 elections, scheduled to take place on Saturday 23rd of February.
The Inec postponed the election just over five hours before polling stations were due to open on Saturday morning, citing problems with transporting ballot papers to some parts of the country. With the new date now set for just under a weeks time, the former military leader in the 80’s who returned to power over three decades later, is going for another shot at the top job, despite the economic ruins that has accompanied his time in power.
Buhari who has battled corruption fiercely throughout his reign, has ordered the police and military to be “ruthless” with vote-riggers, following the last-minute postponement of the general election.
The president of Africa’s most populous nation branded the electoral commission as incompetent, and ordered an investigation into why the vote was delayed. Mr Buhari made the comments at an emergency meeting of his All Progressives Congress party (APC) in the capital, Abuja.
“Anybody who decides to snatch [ballot] boxes or use thugs to disturb it [the vote] – maybe this will be the last unlawful action he will take,” he said. President Buhari later indicated that anybody who interfered with the election would do so “at the expense of his life”. His comments were condemned by the opposition party, who said the statement was a license to kill.
JUNGLE JUSTICE
Nigeria’s main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), described the statement as a “direct call for jungle justice”.
“It is indeed a licence to kill, which should not come from any leader of any civilised nation,” said PDP party spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan. The snatching of ballot boxes is a practise that is common in many African elections, where thugs are paid to interfere with the votes by snatching ballot boxes, thereby limiting the transparency of the votes cast, and subjecting the process to prejudice and ridicule.
The 2015 elections were reportedly riddled with rigging and corruption, with hundreds loosing their life. The former president, Jonathan Goodluck departed gracefully after loosing the elections. Buhari is determined to make sure embarrassing mechanisms of bullying and rigging are not allowed to repeat themselves during this years elections. Ruthlessness by police in African countries like Nigeria include bloodshed through killing. The idea of due process requiring criminal behaviour to be tried by a court does not happen in Nigeria, precisely why it ha sbeen coined as jungle justice.