Current Affairs

Gang culture for the politicians in Nigeria is an expensive business, they need the gangs to secure their electoral campaign. There are so many arguments about whether the politicians involved in elections offer their voices to the people and fight for the concerns of their community, especially when the system is so corrupt. But the reasoning of the political elite that gangs are a necessary element to their electoral campaign enables and empowers the gangs to commit crimes with impunity.

Politicians need to get their message across, however corrupt the system is. There is a way to secure getting that message across and that is through media appearances, mass marketing campaigns and canvassing. The reality for the Nigerian politician is that posters need protection ($24 for a month), canvassing demands protection from intimidation, (intimidation costs $200).

A Rivers resident described how Deebam cult members were paid to intimidate political opponents and voters in the 2023 elections: “They were given $200 each, so they could work according to the instructions of [a local politician], there were about 23 of them […] they came with sophisticated weapons.” But politics is a rough business in Nigeria, and if you want your opponent eliminated then there is a price to pay and that is N20million – N50 million ($20,000-$65,0000) to get rid of your problem and eliminate your political opponent.

The fixers or Yandaba leaders in Kano are key elements to the success of the politician. In the 2023 election gang members received cash, political appointments, government contracts, houses, cars, plots of land and sponsorship for a Haj pilgrimage to Mecca to fix elections. And official government empowerment programmes paid the gang members and provided motorcycles, which according to Global Initiative the Yandaba used to buy drugs and weapons.

But what happens to gang members who lose elections, an example of this was when the APC lost the governorship of Kano. Nazifi Nanaso, a gang leader who was notorious, for eight years was protected for orchestrating attacks on the opposition. After the APC lost the election he was forced to surrender to the Police with fifteen other members of the gang. The Chief of Police in a press conference said that “they will develop a different approach to make sure these thugs are changing their lives and becoming better people. We will even organise sports competitions with them.”

But others have not been so lucky, Mubarak Isa and Mohammed Bula were found guilty of posting a TikTok video that went viral. They are accused of defaming Abdullah Ganduje, the governor of Kano and were arrested. They mocked the governor for alleged land grabbing, corruption and sleeping on the job. Osai Ojiho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria said that “Amnesty International condemns the sentencing of two TIKTOK stars for allegedly defaming the governor of Kano state…[…]. The decision to remand them in prison for a week without trial is a brazen violation of the right to a fair trial. Satirising those in authority is not a crime. […] The outrageous court order to flog and fine them is heavy-handed and clearly aimed at gagging young NIgerians and restricting their access to social media.”

Those interviewed told the reporter that where politicians instructed gang members to kill opponents for rewards for doing so. Assassinations have become a means of existence for some: “for me killing is what I do. Just call me if you want any assassination carried out and I will do it for you.” There are different types of assassins including “ a group that we call suicide men, they don’t mind if they are going to die, they are ready to die for you.”

On 23^rd February shortly after polling started for the gubernatorial election for both state and senate elections in Kano, thugs arrived at a polling station. The Yandaba stormed the polling station, threatening anyone who refused to leave, most voters stepped back and allowed them to destroy ballot boxes and ballot papers. An eyewitness said that “as we were protesting against the attack, the armed thugs charged at us and one of them injured me with a dagger. I was taken to hospital where I remained until voting ended.”

Law enforcement tracking drugs in Kano state argue that there is a surge in the supply of drugs in the run up to the electoral cycle. They argue that drugs are key to the mobilization of gangs and are usually supplied to gang members during this period. A gang member said that his gang of 70 members use codeine, tramadol and cannabis worth N500,000 before carrying out vote rigging, destroying ballot boxes and other election rigging exercises. The police say that there are a lot of arrests related to drugs during the electoral process and realise that the gangs are determined by this behaviour during the electoral cycle.

According to Global Initiative, the Yandababa’s stream of funding is determined by political actors who hire them in the lead-up to elections. But it is the illicit drugs trade and pharmaceuticals that sustain them outside the election period when a politician does not any longer require their services, which enables the gangs to survive and operate during the next electoral cycle. This means that the politician is intrinsically bound to the Yandababa politically and empowers their agenda into the political canon of the politician who has used them during the election.

The corruption of the Nigerian political process comes at a price. The Yandababa of northern Nigeria and Kano control and force the agenda of the politician seeking power. Lip service is paid to the electorate whose concerns are determined by a group of thugs who rig an election to the advantage of a politician who will reward the gang leaders for their success. But, however brave the electorate are in trying to safe guard the electoral process, they cannot challenge the drug fuelled determination of the gangs to destroy the ballots and ballot boxes. The police to a degree are complicit, as are the politicians who reward the gang members with immunity, payments, government jobs, favours and trips to Mecca. This is unfortunate and when social media stars disclose the corruption of those guilty of corruption, they are held illegally and sentenced to fines and lashings.