Barely three months before the January 16, 2027, presidential election, politicians are already heating up the polity with their political statements.
Some of the statements are capable of causing upheaval, ethnic division and tribal resentment, while others could tarnish the reputations of individuals.
However, the implications of some of these statements, particularly those capable of triggering a crisis, are of grave concern to Nigerians.
Recently, the chairman of the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Jarret Tenebe, threatened to deploy AK-47 firearms against anyone who stood against the party’s plan to deliver 2.5 million votes for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
Tenebe issued the threat publicly while addressing APC supporters at a gathering in Benin City following the recent local government council election.
He said the state governor, Monday Okpebholo, had promised Tinubu 2.5 million votes from the state.
He stressed that the party would work to prove that the target was achievable and warned that anyone who attempted to frustrate the party’s efforts to achieve the feat would face the firepower of AK-47 rifles.
He claimed that the APC secured 2,158,600 votes in the state’s recent local government election, describing the figure as a feat that had never been recorded in any state before.
Referring to people he said might attempt to frustrate the party’s plans to deliver the target number of votes, he made reference to firearms, saying:
“Those who do not wish us well, who want to create an obstacle for us, I have a prayer for you.
“So, anybody who refuses, who wants to stand in our way, for us not to have those votes that we intend to give to Mr President, AK-47 fire.”
Tenebe’s remarks came amid a series of statements by political actors ahead of the 2027 general election.
In September, Sainna Buba, Borno State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, warned critics of the Babagana Zulum administration that those who “raise” their fingers against the government would have theirs cut off.
Buba spoke at a campaign inauguration organised by the City Boy Movement, a political support organisation backing Tinubu’s second-term bid.
In another incident, Muhammad Gadaka, the APC chairman in Yobe State, told women at a political rally in Nangere Local Government Area that he would pay the bride price of women whose husbands divorced them for voting for the ruling party.
Gadaka later apologised, saying his remark had been misunderstood and was intended as a joke based on a traditional relationship between the Gamawa and Kare-Kare communities.
Also, Danjuma Shekwolo, chairman of the Kuje Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), told residents to support the APC or leave the council.
Shekwolo later backtracked, saying the remark was made at a meeting with APC youths and loyalists and was not intended to deny residents their rights based on their political affiliations.
In Osun State, Francis Fadahunsi, the senator representing Osun East, asked his supporters to attack members of the Accord Party ahead of the state’s August 15 governorship election.
Analysts believe that Tenebe’s statement amounts to saying that anyone opposed to Tinubu’s re-election in Edo State risks being killed with an AK-47 rifle or sustaining gunshot injuries.
However, political observers believe that the dangers and implications of such inflammatory political utterances are grave if they are not nipped in the bud. They argued that the failure of the relevant authorities to punish those who made similar statements in the past had emboldened people like Tenebe to follow the same path.
Implications
One of the immediate fallouts of Tenebe’s threat was the public display of an AK-47 rifle by Aminu Warkal, a House of Assembly candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Party, NDC, in Kano State.
Warkal was seen leaning halfway out of a moving vehicle at a political rally while displaying an AK-47 rifle and warning that if the APC wanted war, they were ready to respond in equal measure.
Some quarters believe that Warkal’s action was prompted by Tenebe’s threat in Edo State.
They argued that the failure of the police or the Department of State Services, DSS, to invite Tenebe for questioning emboldened Warkal to display the firearm publicly and threaten to respond to violence with violence.
However, unlike Tenebe, Warkal was immediately invited by the Kano State Police Command for questioning over the alleged unlawful display of the firearm.
Abdullahi Kiyawa, the police spokesperson in Kano, said in a statement that the alleged display, if established, would amount to a violation of the provisions of the Firearms Act.
He said Warkal’s action was capable of inciting fear, intimidating members of the public and breaching public peace and security.
Part of the statement read: “In line with its sustained intelligence-led surveillance, robust community engagement, and proactive security presence across all parts of the State, the Kano State Police Command, while on routine cyber patrol, came across a video clip circulating on social media platforms where one Aminu Abdullahi Warkal was seen openly displaying a firearm suspected to be a Pump Action Rifle during what appears to be a political gathering.
“The alleged unlawful display of firearms, if established, constitutes a clear violation of the provisions of the Firearms Act and is capable of inciting fear, intimidating members of the public and breaching public peace and security.
“On the directive of the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Command, CP Ibrahim Adamu Bakori, the said Aminu Abdullahi Warkal was invited to the Command Headquarters, Bompai, Kano.”
Kiyawa said the commissioner of police warned that the command would not tolerate lawlessness, thuggery or the display of weapons capable of threatening public peace, regardless of the status of the person involved.
He advised politicians and their supporters to conduct themselves peacefully and abide by the Electoral Act, the Firearms Act and other relevant laws.
Following Warkal’s invitation for questioning by the Kano State Police Command, Kennedy Iyere, a senatorial candidate of the Accord Party for Edo Central in the 2027 election and a prominent civil society leader, also called on the DSS to arrest and investigate Tenebe over his political remarks involving an AK-47 rifle.
Iyere made the call in a petition to the director of the DSS in Edo State, describing Tenebe’s remarks as a development capable of threatening peace, political stability and national security.
He urged the DSS to compel Tenebe to publicly retract the alleged remarks across various media platforms.
He noted that the development should not be treated casually, warning that failure to address the matter could trigger youth-led protests and political agitations across the country ahead of the 2027 general election.
He said the alleged remarks had already attracted widespread condemnation, adding that their potential consequences required immediate intervention by the security agency.
He urged the DSS to consider the alleged AK-47 remarks within the broader political and security environment in the country and take steps to prevent an escalation of tensions.
Also speaking on the implications of Tenebe’s utterance, Ganiyu James, an opposition politician in Lagos, said it could lead to violence, which might ultimately result in the loss of lives and property.
“The point is that when an APC member makes such inflammatory statements, it is normal and good, but when it comes from an opposition figure, it then becomes a threat to national security.
“Nobody has a monopoly on violence, and the earlier the APC understands that, the better for everybody in Nigeria. Nigeria belongs to all of us, and nobody can intimidate us simply because he has the backing of the ruling party.
“You can see how the APC government behaves. All the people who have been threatening others from Borno to Sokoto and from Abuja to Edo did not commit any offence because they are APC members.
"But as soon as an opposition figure in Kano displayed equal madness, the police were very quick to call him to order by inviting him for questioning. It is this kind of partial treatment of citizens that causes a crisis.
“You can’t have different sets of laws for different sets of people in the same country. What is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander.
"Anybody who makes inflammatory statements, no matter their political leaning, should be called to order. But when you allow some people to insult and threaten others while preventing others from doing the same, then you are courting trouble.
“What I am saying is that Tenebe’s utterance should not be allowed to go uninvestigated. He should be invited to explain what he meant by threatening to unleash AK-47 fire on those who stand against the APC’s plan to give Tinubu 2.5 million votes in 2027.
“Such a statement has grave implications if left unattended to. Others may want to borrow a leaf from it, and the resultant effect is obvious: violence, anarchy and bloodshed.”
2027: Edo APC chair, Tenebe’s AK-47 remarks worsen tension ahead general elections