By Henry Odu-
Four men were shot dead in southern Rivers state, as the Nigerian elections kicked off on Saturday.
In another bloody election in Africa’s most populous country, Four people, including two leaders of the All Progressives Congress were killed in separate incidents, by suspected thugs in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The Situation Room, an umbrella group of more than 70 organisations, said “election-related violence… led to the death of at least 39 Nigerians” in the last two days.
The body, which previously gave a death toll of 16, had more than 8,000 observers on the ground for Saturday’s vote, at which President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking a second term.
“Situation Room reiterates that no election in Nigeria should cost the life of any citizen and condemns in the strongest terms the lack of empathy, concern and sensitivity by the police class regarding these events,” it said in a statement
Rivers State is the oil rich part of Nigeria, where bloodshed is a common occurrence during Nigerian elections. Civilians fled Geidam in north-eastern Yobe in numbers after a reported attack by Islamic State West Africa Province . Yobe is a state that has been under siege in the past decade by the extremist group Boko Haram and and ISWAP.
A Rivers States spokesperson Omoni Nnamdi, confirmed the incidents in a statement already prepared for both the Nigerian and international press, as the bloodshed Nigerians feared reared its ugly head on the first day of an election sure to send more people six feet under.“PDP thugs have shot to death an APC chieftain in Asarama, Andoni LGA, Chief Mowan Etete,” APC’s spokesperson for Rivers State. “Etete was a former council chairman.” His elder brother and another victim said believed to be his cousin.
Confirming efforts to catch the killers, Nnamdi told The Eye Of Media.Com: ” we are intensifying all efforts to catch the killers. This incident is regrettable and bloodshed is something everybody wants to avoid. We want to return thing to nomalcy so that the elections can continue in peace”
The fourth victim, identified as Ignatius, “an official member of APC Rivers State Executive committee was also shot to death in Ajakaja, same Andoni LGA of Prince Secondus.” During the 2015 elections, a number of people were burnt alive in Rivers State, houses were burnt down, and ballot boxes were hijacked by gun men during the government elections.
In Borno State, Northern East Nigeria, the resounding noise of gun fire shook the city hours before the elections officially started. It was reportedly a security drill, but one that frightened its inhabitants heavily. Every election in Nigeria promises huge financial rewards to many affiliated with the candidates at the potential expense of the populace. Many Nigerians are cynical of the prospect of any real change in the country if either the incumbent president, Mohammadu Buhari, or his main rival, Abubakar Atiku wins the elections.
The sense of Euphoria that accompanied Buhari’s 2015 election victory has been dampened after four years of rising austerity and economic hardship that has left the majority Nigerians struggling for subsistence. Rising prices of fuel for petrol and basic amenities taken forgranted by inhabitants of Western countries, like electricity, are a luxury for Nigerians who can afford generators to keep them free from this shortcomings.