Sad story of how many Nigerians fled abroad as 2015 general elections got tougher by killings

In the event of crisis ridden era heralding the 2015 transition elections in Nigeria, things went uneasy as those in the ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would not want to let go with power despite seeing the hand writing in the wall that the masses of the Nigerian people were prepared to do away with them at all cost, and those in the opposition mainly All Progressives Congress (APC) would not allow themselves to be cowed as it was clear in the eyes of the people that they needed a change.

Some of Nigerian newspapers did day-to-day coverage of how many of the killings and attacks that were perpetrated by elements said to be working for party in power.  Premium Times, through a report of its reporter, Nnnenna Ibeh, had it that as at February 13, 2015, over 58 Nigerians had been killed so far in the pre-election violence.  The newspapers were quoting the Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)’s figures.  It was too bad, many had said as they wonder how seeking election to continue to sit in office should be worth the blood of any Nigerian.

“At least 58 Nigerians have so far died in election-related violence ahead of general polls that have been rescheduled for March 28 and April 11, a report released by Nigeria’s human rights body said Friday. The report on pre-election violence, compiled by the National Human Rights Commission, said that in the past 50 days, 61 incidences of election violence occurred in 22 states with 58 people killed. The incidences of violence, the commission said, were captured from all the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.

“The world believes that Nigeria is going to eat itself up because we are going for an election, we must show we can do things differently. We don’t want our election administrators killed, we don’t want our voters killed, and we don’t want our politicians killed,” said Chidi Odinkalu, the chairman of the human rights body, at the presentation of the report Friday,” this was the Premium Times report as published on February 13, 2015 as checked by The DEFENDER.

This led to increased killings in parts of the country as there was clearly uneasy in some parts of the South West Nigerian states particularly Lagos, South South states particularly Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa the state of the then sitting President still in contest and most of the Northern parts of the country.  Elections should not be do or die but the clampdown on opposition at that time by agents (informal and informal) of ruling PDP became tense that there became apprehension in the land.  Due to this apprehension, many Nigerians fled the country for the safety of their lives.

The DEFENDER eventually caught up with one them when, eventually upon its resumption of media operations in on 24th June 2016, management of the Nigerian based newspaper decided to document the whole event and it came across one of the affected Nigerians that fled abroad in the person of Sikiru Abayomi Muhammad and he told his own story by himself.

He said: “My name is Sikiru Abayomi Muhammad. I was born in 19/04/1975. I was the business development manager for the Protea hotel in Ikeja Lagos. My duty among others, is mainly to develop business strategies for our hotel to attract more customers in order to increase our revenue as we were really faced with intensive competition in hotel business world of Lagos. I went beyond attracting many event organisers to use our place for many ceremonies they manage, I also succeeded in attracting the politicians to make use of our conference room for their meetings. And that is where the bulk of our revenue centred around.

“As the 2015 election was drawing near and becoming more tense, I realised that the season was an opportunity to increase our sales. I succeeded in attracting People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to make use of our hotel for their activities. The party was constantly using our conference room for their meetings which was usually, in most cases, held in the midnight every 3 days. They told us they were doing so to keep the their strategies secret. And I liaised with the branch service manager to ensure that we adhere to their demand strictly. I was aware that they were really planning to take Lagos away from the ALL Progressive Congress (APC) that had been holding the state with unshakable strong influence in Lagos State. But over the period of time, they were beginning to mobilise the grassroots of the Ikeja area local government, and their influence began to grow.

“As their activities began to have impact on the people in the area. I reckon APC discovered through their findings that our hotel is one of the strategic location where they mobilised, I was later approached by one of APC grassroots worker (name withheld for security reason) who used to be my school mate regarding the use of our hotel as their party branch office. The request which I instantly turned down letting him realise what the impact of using the place as a branch office would have on our customers. But after some pressure from my boss, I yielded to the request, and because the money involved was very significant (N5 million ~ $13,000) for just 6 month in form of rent fee.

“PDP was subsequently served a letter, notifying it that the place would no longer be available for their party’s meetings. I had to take 2 weeks emergency holiday to avoid their unrelenting pressure to rescind our decision. APC went beyond our expectations and boldly put it big massive banner in front of our hotel to make the public aware of the place as their local area office. This action infuriated PDP and its branch secretary accused me and the manager of betrayal . All the proof of my innocence to them that it was strictly a business agreement in the interests of our hotel, and that this agreement is a long term different from his party’s one which was mere meetings which was paid per session, wasn’t satisfactory to him. APC eventually punctured PDP influence in the area, and won both the counsellors and chairmanship March elections of Ikeja local government. PDP accused me and Aperi Jacob of spying and leaking the information about their party to the opposition; accusation which I vehemently denied because it wasn’t true.

“Luckily for me, 2 months later I was assigned by our general manager to attend the business manager conference of National Resturant Association scheduled for 21-24 May 2015 in Chicago Illinois. I arrived America on the 20th, and I was called same day by my wife that Aperi Jacob, the hotel service manager had been assassinated by unknown gunmen. In fact, I was depressed that I couldn’t attend the conference. I was advised by our general manager that my life also is at risk if I could stay back. Since then I have not seen my family. And as far as I heard, no one has been arrested for the murder up till today.

“I decided to stay back in America and eventually met a woman who agreed to give me a live in care job. The woman was paying me $1,000 a month but to my utmost surprise believed that because she was doing me a favour she cut my pay to $500 a month. I refused protested initially but she threatened me saying that she would call immigration officials on me if I ever bother her about the payment. I couldn’t go out nor have a life. After a lot of enquiries I found out about Canada asylum,” the story ended.