In Ogun State, I have simply developed a knack for eavesdropping on political discussions at motor parks and inside taxis.
Since about two weeks ago, it seems, the talk here is about who is spending the most money and whose popularity is waning or increasing.
Occasionally, I develop interest in such discusions just to keep myself busy.
I chanced on one of such people one evening – a young man, whose main occupation at the moment is making as much as he can.
“I have a target,” he said.
“In 2011, I made at least N95,000.
I actually said I would make N120,000 during this election.”
“How did you make N95,000?” I asked him.
And his answer is not that shocking.
“I was one of those people distributing money to voters just a few days to the governorship election. You can’t give me N300,000 and expect me to distribute everything now,” my new friend said.
Asked how the new target was coming up and his expression changed, he reeled out a couple of foul words and said, “Idiotic people want to win elections and they are not spending money! I can’t even say I have made N10,000 so far. I am not in charge of money this time.”
This young man’s state of mind actually represents that of a couple of other young men I have interacted with in Abeokuta. One even told me he purchased an application form for the army not long ago with the money he made from a governorship candidate in the state.
“I would not have been able to get the application form if not for the N5,000 a candidate gave to us. I was so lucky that day. The man shared N5,000 to everybody present when he came to campaign in our area.
By the time the news spread and people started to troop to the venue, he had left,” he said enthusiastically.
However, I am happy that this election in Ogun has been peaceful even though it has weirdly made things ‘dull’ for a journalist like me.
I would not count myself as a war monger but I see myself as a journalist that loves to see ‘action’. That was the mindset I took to Ogun State as a reporter on this special election duty.
But more than two weeks after my arrival, it only seems that the residents of the state have taken a ‘chill pill’ or perhaps there has been a grand agreement to avoid violence of any form as much as possible.
I found myself strangely calling all security agents if there had been skirmishes in any part of the state at four-hour intervals during the last Presidential election. When other journalists with me started to inquire about my obsession with ballot snatching, polling unit attacks and other inter-party violence, I decided to keep my thoughts to myself.
Truth be told, I just could not believe that there is a state where these would not happen. Of course, before the election, social and mass media were awash with messages on the need to avoid violence as much as possible. But we all know how politics in Nigeria can be.
But thankfully, the National Human Rights Commission’s classification of Ogun as a flashpoint has not materialised so far.
“Just wait till the governorship election,” one prominent police officer told me. “We will not rule out some unruly actions, but we are ready.”
Covering elections in an expansive state like Ogun, with towns spread over a large area, is not only stressful but also makes adequate coverage almost impossible.
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