The Independent National Electoral Commission and the Nigeria Police Force have vowed to take action against politicians issuing threats against opponents as activities intensify ahead of the 2027 general elections.
INEC and the police spoke with Sunday PUNCH while responding to inquiries on public concerns about rising inflammatory rhetoric by political actors across the country.
The commission said the Electoral Act empowers it to take action against indicted political parties and their candidates, while the police insisted that incitement is a criminal offence and anybody found culpable would be arrested and prosecuted.
The Executive Secretary of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, and human rights lawyer, Jiti Ogunye, among others, also called on law enforcement agencies to move beyond invitations and warnings and prosecute politicians whose statements violated the law.
Findings by Sunday PUNCH showed that political threats had continued to feature prominently in mobilisation campaigns, with several politicians making statements that critics described as threatening, provocative or capable of inciting violence.
One of the early statements that drew attention came from Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, who, on April 25, warned opposition politicians against being coerced into joining the ruling party.
He spoke at the All Opposition Political Party Leaders meeting in Ibadan, where he warned those pushing politicians to defect to remember the violence associated with the political crisis of the First Republic.
Makinde said those acting “as if there’s no tomorrow” should remember that “Operation Wetie started from here. This is the same Wild Wild West.”
“Operation Wetie” refers to the political violence that engulfed Nigeria’s Western Region in the 1960s, with Ibadan becoming a major centre of the unrest.
The expression, derived from the Yoruba phrase for “wet him” or “soak it,” became associated with attacks in which political opponents, their homes and vehicles were doused with petrol and set ablaze.
Days later, on May 2, a former Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Buba Galadima, made another controversial statement while speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the Obi-Kwankwaso Movement in Abuja.
He urged Nigerians to go to polling units with “bottles and jerry cans of kerosene” during the 2027 elections.
Galadima 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.”
On August 3, Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke declared that the people of the state would not allow the August 15 governorship election to be rigged.
“Remember what happened in 1983. It started in Yorubaland when they cheated Bola Ige and Ajasin. Osun will not agree. We want a free and fair election,” he said.
The senator representing Osun East Senatorial District, Francis Fadahunsi, was also seen in a viral video issuing death threats to members of the Accord Party in the Ilesa area of Osun State.
In the Federal Capital Territory, the Chairman of Kuje Area Council, Samuel Shekwolo, reportedly threatened that anyone who was not a supporter of the All Progressives Congress should leave the council area.
Similarly, the Borno State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Sainna Buba, threatened that those who refused to support the APC in the 2027 elections would be flogged.
In Ebonyi State, the newly sworn-in Chairman of Ohaukwu Local Government Area, Eze Ituma, warned opposition parties and their supporters against conducting political activities in the council ahead of the 2027 elections.
He said individuals whose political activities conflicted with his interests could be declared persona non grata.
