Gangs Threaten Election Peace in Nigeria's Key City

International FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015 Gangs threaten election peace in Nigeria’s key city LAGOS: Congested streets lined with shops sell- blocked off by a cluster of security vehicles. The ing everything from plastic sandals to instant area was deserted and appeared burnt. passport photos and hawkers shouting for cus- “Mayhem in Lagos” proclaimed the next day’s tomers above deafening car horns: the Oshodi front-page headline in The Punch, a widely read market offers a snapshot of life in Nigeria’s daily, describing the violence as “a gang war” largest city. Like other parts of Lagos, Oshodi has among groups called “Big London Boys”, seen outbreaks of political violence in the run-up “Railway” and “Under-bridge.” It was impossible to March 28 general elections, much of it blamed to establish if the day’s violence was directly on “Area Boys” gangs of youths readily available linked to the polls but experts agree that the for mercenary work. The country’s human rights highly-charged environment created by the commission recorded 60 separate incidents of campaign has led to increased clashes among campaign-related unrest, including 58 deaths, youths across the city. nationwide in December and January. The main opposition-controlled Rivers state, ‘Thuggish’ politics next door to President Goodluck Jonathan’s “Politics in Nigeria has always been thuggish, home state of Bayelsa in the southern oil-pro- right from 1960,” the year of independence from ducing Delta region, has been a flashpoint. But Britain, said Adewale Maja-Pearce, a Lagos-based 11 of the incidents were in Lagos, where violence writer and Nigeria columnist for the International has persisted since the report was released last New York Times. Maja-Pearce echoed other month. The city-sub-Saharan Africa’s largest experts in arguing that the so-called Area Boy with an estimated 20 million people-has scourge is a merely a symptom of a larger nation- emerged as one of the “most worrying” hotspots al unemployment crisis, where young men with and faces a “high risk of significant violence” dur- few opportunities view politicians as a meal tick- ing the polls, the commission says. “All of us are... et. “There (are) too many young men hanging feeling seriously insecure with the election com- around, waiting for some action. All you have to ing up,” Oshodi shop owner Matilda Marious do is go and meet them and pay them and they said. will do what you want,” Maja-Pearce said. “You can’t blame the youths... They want to eat.” ‘Mayhem in Lagos’ In recent weeks, so-called Area Boys have LAGOS: A roadside restaurant features a poster of main opposition All Progressives Congress Oshodi unfolds beneath an overpass that clashed at political rallies in the upmarket Lagos (APC) presidential candidate Mohammadu Buhari in Lagos. — AFP leads towards the airport district of Ikeja and the suburb of Lekki and on Lagos Island, the city’s market is impossible to miss. Dozens, if not hun- historic but run-down banking district. On services are typically available to any willing bid- Adebesin Molake, a Buhari supporter, said she dreds of Lagos’s iconic yellow buses can typically January 30, a large rally addressed by opposition der. knows that Nigeria, including Oshodi, is divided be seen buzzing around Oshodi, making the area presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari was between the two candidates but urged both a commuter hub as well as a notorious one-stop broken up by hordes of youths, some of whom ‘Prayers’ for peace sides to remain calm when the result is shopping haven. Two people were killed and were wielding pocket-size knives and were The rights commission said the relatively high announced. more than 80 vehicles vandalized after “two fac- caught on video chasing people around the levels of violence recorded before the polls was “Everybody should take it easy,” she said. She tions of unemployed youths” clashed on January Teslim Balogun stadium in Lagos. unusual for Nigeria, which has typically seen said she was comforted by a January visit from 22, with more than 50 police officers deployed to Maja-Pearce argued that for the aggressors in unrest after voting day, including in 2011 when US Secretary of State John Kerry, who stressed contain what the rights commission called elec- such cases, allegiance to Buhari’s All Progressives more than 1,000 people were killed in two cen- the importance of organizing a credible vote and tion-related violence. Congress (APC) or Jonathan’s Peoples tral states. Concern is particularly high in Lagos a result respected by all camps. “Kerry, from As Marious voiced her election fears on a Democratic Party (PDP) is not a motivating fac- because it is widely seen a swing-state, with the America, has talked to both sides,” Molake said. Wednesday afternoon last month, a large part of tor. Area Boys “don’t have anything approaching PDP facing its first serious electoral test since mil- “We pray God is going to hear our prayers. There the market a few hundred meters away was (party) ideology”, he said, underscoring that their itary rule ended in 1999. Market leader Fausat won’t be any fight.” — AFP.

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