The recent
assassination of Otunba Dipo Dina, the Action Congress (AC)
Ogun State standard bearer in the 2007 gubernatorial
election has once again brought to the fore the bloodletting
in the country’s politics. The last count according to media
reports is the 53rd of such dastardly act in the annals of
the nation. It is somehow difficult to decipher the real
motive for the various reported cases of assassinations in
Nigeria .
Several of the assassination cases however are
politically motivated. Indeed, the assassins are in our
midst. They have their sponsors who are often the mighty
ones. One thing that cannot be denied is that the quest for
pecuniary gains predisposes the assassins into the killing
venture. In carrying out this devilish act, the assassins
employ sophisticated weapons.
Of course, cases of assassination portray us as
a nation of ungodly people. Also, the mind of assassins
shows degeneracy into which our people’s minds have been
besieged, otherwise why should a normal human being develop
the stout guts to eliminate another human being. It is a
pure madness and notoriety of highest order snuffing life
out of innocent citizens. One basic truism about the
sponsors of the assassination is psychotic quest for
vengeance and desperate desire for fame, money and power.
Some out of cerebral imbalance and some do it to settle
personal grudge. This further establishes that man naturally
has a evil spirit in him which is often accentuated by
sadistic propensity, greed, lust for power and prevalence of
poverty in the land.
Obviously, we are in a state of anomie as result
of pervasive insecurity of lives and property everywhere.
All of us must rise up to the challenge of fighting the
menace because it constitutes a threat to our collective
psyche as a people. The outsiders are looking at us as a
country peopled by desperados. The amazing thing about the
tales of assassination is that the assassins are products of
our corrupt society.
Tenacity of office by the political office
holders sometimes induces assassination of the opponents.
Evidence also abound that in a desperate power game,
opposition are usually hunted into hibernation through
attempted or outright assassination. Somehow, poor political
culture and socialization of most the nation’s politician
truly encouraged political assassinations. It is a culture
bestowed on the nation by the ruling elite in an attempt to
dominate the political space.
There is also an unending controversy over the
role of the state in some of the cases of assassinations. In
my own view, no responsible government will choose to kill
any of its citizens for ventilating divergent opinions about
the state policies. However, lack of swiftness in the
government responses to cases of assassination could justify
people continuous insistence that the state usually have
hands in some of the unresolved cases of assassination in
Nigeria .
Of equal importance is the fact that south west
out of the six geo-political zones has recorded the highest
cases of assassination in Nigeria since the period of
independence. What started as political expediency following
the military putsch of January 15, 1966 and the counter –
coup of July 29, 1966 , when many politicians and military
officers were assassinated has become a common phenomenon in
Nigeria . The elastic murder chain in the south west has
become a social virus which seems to be escalating to the
rest part of the country. As the infestation is sweeping all
over the nation, the general insecurity of the citizens is
becoming manifest.
In fact, political assassination is becoming
more prevalence under the present political dispensation.
Politicians in playing the power game had assassinated many
of their opponents as part of the strategy to acquire or
sustain themselves in power. It seems the police are
helpless in unraveling the motive and the true identity of
those behind the reported cases of assassination. Possibly
because of the people involved. The price tag for the
volunteers of information has never yielded desirable
result. Even when government claim ignorance of perpetrators
of these barbaric and animalistic killings, people continue
to raise insinuation about the state involvement.
Again, arrest of suspects in connection with
cases of assassinations hardly led to successful
prosecution. That is why many consider police incompetent
when it comes to investigation and prosecution of cases of
assassination. If the police could fail to unravel the
rationale behind the murders of outstanding persons or
probably identify the sponsors, it means the cases of
hundred of other citizens of unknown class killed in similar
circumstances are likely to be treated with levity.
Another interesting thing is that police report
usually tell the story of armed robbery incident even when
the assailants do not dispossess their prey of personal
belongings. As people shedding deceitful tears and
registering condolences, family of the deceased remain the
ones groaning over the dilemma caused by the assassination.
Candidly, a mere parade of the suspects or the
hollow ritual of media coverage of the person’s paraded by
the police as the killers is not enough measure to bring to
book the perpetrators of the gruesome murders.
Back to Dipo Dina’s assassination which is the
newest in the growing list of unresolved political killings.
His brutal assassination portends a great danger about the
future of the Nigeria Democracy. Yes, the murder of Dipo
Dina shows that all is not well on the political turf in
Ogun State. Quiet commendable is the insistence by Vice
President Goodluck Jonathan that the security agencies must
get to the bottom of wanton killing of an industrious son of
Ogun State , Otunba Dipo Dina.
The question which continues to agitate mind of
the concerned citizens therefore: is what could have been
the motive? This is because when Dipo Dina contested with
the incumbent governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State in 2007
gubernatorial election, he did not challenge the result of
the election in court. And again, is it part of the scheming
and political calculation to determine the outcome of 2011
elections in Ogun State .
Besides, the recent statement credited to
Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State while fielding the
questions on a special interview programme tagged Governor’s
forum that Ogun was the only state where there is allegedly
a killer squad. This is enough reason for our security
agencies to thoroughly investigate the mindless murder.
Whatever it is, Dipo Dina’s case should not be allowed to
increase the list of unresolved assassinations in the
country. In combating the menace also, spiritual cleansing
and moral re awakening of souls already afflicted by social
decadence need to be given priority by both the government
and religious institutions.
ONIKE RAHAMAN
FREELANCE WRITER & EDITORIAL CONSULTANT.
OYO TOWN,OYO STATE,NIGERIA.
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Published
February, 7th, 2010
