Human rights lawyer, Mr Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has described the blockade imposed on presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi and members of his entourage while on a private engagement in Benue State as direct challenge on INEC power to declare election campaigns open.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ejiofor declared that democracy cannot survive where political disagreements are settled by the roadblock, the cudgel or the gun.
He argued that, INEC, having declared election campaigns open, Obi, like every other contestant was entitled to traverse the length and breadth of the country, lawfully present his manifestos, articulate his programmes and policies, and persuade Nigerians to entrust him with their mandate.
“It is no longer news that campaign activities for the 2027 general elections have formally commenced following the lifting of the statutory restriction by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the Ritual Endorsement of a Symbolic Peace Accord by Presidential Aspirants. The implication is straightforward: presidential candidates and other political contestants are entitled, within the confines of the law, to traverse the length and breadth of the country, present their manifestos, articulate their programmes and policies, and persuade Nigerians to entrust them with their mandate.”
According to Mr Ejiofor, what Nigerians are witnessing at the very threshold of the 2027 electioneering season is not the robust contest of ideas expected in a democracy, but the frightening emergence of political intolerance, intimidation and organised thuggery.
“If a presidential candidate can be obstructed by political thugs from entering a State during the lawful discharge of his political activities, what happens when the campaign becomes more intense? What happens when political rhetoric hardens, tempers rise and rival camps become more desperate?”
He called on President Bola Tinubu to rise up to the occassion and ensure that all contestants plays by the rules irrespective of party affiliations.
” I therefore respectfully urge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call such overzealous political actors, particularly those in positions of constitutional authority, to order. The appropriate battlefield for political contests is the marketplace of ideas, not the streets; the manifesto, not the machete; the ballot box, not the political thug.”
READ FULL STATEMENT
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I am not ordinarily accustomed to dabbling in partisan political activities, particularly as they relate to the affairs of political parties. However, when a dangerous aberration is allowed to persist unchecked, it risks becoming a convention; and when a convention is repeatedly tolerated, it may ultimately acquire the unfortunate character of a political culture. My intervention, therefore, is not partisan, but firmly anchored on public interest and the imperative of preserving democracy.
It is no longer news that campaign activities for the 2027 general elections have formally commenced following the lifting of the statutory restriction by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the Ritual Endorsement of a Symbolic Peace Accord by Presidential Aspirants. The implication is straightforward: presidential candidates and other political contestants are entitled, within the confines of the law, to traverse the length and breadth of the country, present their manifestos, articulate their programmes and policies, and persuade Nigerians to entrust them with their mandate.
It is, therefore, deeply disturbing that what Nigerians are witnessing at the very threshold of the 2027 electioneering season is not the robust contest of ideas expected in a democracy, but the frightening emergence of political intolerance, intimidation and organised thuggery.
The blockage of Peter Obi and members of his entourage while on a private engagement in Benue State is profoundly disturbing. More alarming is the unrestrained activities of heavily armed political thugs who, in broad daylight and apparently within the vicinity of security personnel, obstructed access and created an atmosphere of intimidation.
That Peter Obi eventually left the scene unharmed should not diminish the gravity of what occurred. The issue is not merely whether a particular politician was physically attacked. The larger and far more dangerous question is: what message does such an incident send to other political actors, and ultimately to the Nigerian electorate?
The message is chilling: that certain political actors may have come to believe that the legitimate exercise of political rights can be restricted by the force of hired mobs. That is an invitation to political anarchy.
If a presidential candidate can be obstructed by political thugs from entering a State during the lawful discharge of his political activities, what happens when the campaign becomes more intense? What happens when political rhetoric hardens, tempers rise and rival camps become more desperate? Democracy cannot survive where political disagreements are settled by the roadblock, the cudgel or the gun.
Governor Hyacinth Alia and every other political office holder must understand that occupying a public office is not a licence to convert the State into a political fiefdom. The authority of a Governor is constitutional; the authority of a political thug is neither constitutional nor democratic.
What occurred in Benue State is therefore totally condemnable and must not be rationalised, trivialised or repeated.
I am equally concerned that such conduct, if allowed to continue, could dangerously inflame an already fragile political atmosphere ahead of the full escalation of the 2027 electioneering campaign. Nigeria has endured enough political violence and needless bloodshed to know that seemingly isolated acts of intimidation can quickly become triggers for wider confrontation. Political actors must not wait until the embers become a conflagration before remembering the responsibilities imposed upon them by their offices.
Unfortunately, some of these overzealous actors may genuinely be labouring under the mistaken impression that they are helping President Bola Ahmed Tinubu or strengthening the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Nothing could be farther from the truth. They are not helping the President; they are demarketing him.
Every act of political thuggery committed in the name of the ruling party inevitably becomes part of the public assessment of the government it claims to support. A government that wishes to be judged as democratic cannot afford to have its political image represented by mobs, intimidation and the suppression of lawful political engagement.
I therefore respectfully urge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call such overzealous political actors, particularly those in positions of constitutional authority, to order. The appropriate battlefield for political contests is the marketplace of ideas, not the streets; the manifesto, not the machete; the ballot box, not the political thug.
With campaign activities now officially underway, there is an urgent need for civility, restraint, tolerance and strict adherence to democratic norms. Governors and other political leaders should campaign on their records, policies, programmes and achievements. Where the records are impressive, let the people judge them. Where they are deficient, let the electorate equally have the freedom to say so.
The road to 2027 must be paved with ideas, tolerance and democratic competition, not thuggery, obstruction and violence.
#ThuggeryIsNotDemocracy
#PoliticsWithoutViolence
#LetIdeasCompete
#NoToPoliticalIntimidation
#DemocracyNotAnarchy
#PowerMustNotIntimidate
#BallotNotThuggery
#CampaignNotConfrontation
#BarEjioforWrites
Signed:
Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Esq., KSC
Dunu-Ezeugosinachi
9 September 2026
