The season of politicking is here again. It is always with us anyway. But the heat has intensified. Same old politics of rancour, bitterness and do-or-die.
Unrepentant politicians are up to their usual antics. They "rent" or "purchase" crowds of the downtrodden and unemployed for ragtag rallies. They employ and provide sophisticated arms to thugs and hire assassins to eliminate political opponents. They have stepped up their diabolical game in recent times and now detonate bombs at political events and in public places, maiming and killing hundreds.
University and polytechnic students short on cash and common sense are also recruited to swell political support for as little as N1000.
The unwary, the clueless and the unthinking, as usual, will fall prey to these vicious predators.
Religious extremists and incredibly crafty politicians need canon fodder to achieve their objectives. Osama Bin Laden, for instance, isn't going to blow up himself or his children as martyrs in a suicide bomb attack. Not at all. He is way too smart for that. It is the clueless morons, the misinformed, misled and misguided followers that he will recruit as suicide bombers - the expendables. The likes of 24 year old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab popularly referred to as the "Underwear Bomber".
Those who can't or won't think for themselves are easily lured by fanatical teaching, false dogma or the lure of easy money.
Intelligent and smart people don't bother me during this season. It is those who are clueless and gullible that get me worried. They are often cannon fodder.
About five students are feared dead in Akwa Ibom State and scores of others injured in the process of sharing the largesse given to them by Governor Godswill Akpabio to secure their support.
The students became agitated when they perceived that state government officials supposedly from the protocol unit of the Government House responsible for coordinating the money sharing exercise had hijacked some of the money promised.
N1000 was being shared to each of the over 3000 persons that were gathered, when a bus drove in and sporadic shooting ensued. The money was carted away by the intruders.
The Students’ Union President of UniUyo, Comrade Essien Udoma confirmed that scores of students have been hospitalized but could not confirm where the dead were taken.
The state Police commissioner, Mr. Sani Magaji confirmed that the police were called in to restore calm as the students began rioting over the incident. But he added that operatives did not fire live rounds at the students to quell the riot. Instead tear gas canisters and dud rounds were fired.
Students, drawn from the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua, Uyo City Polytechnic and the Akwa Ibom State College of Education, Afaha Nsit had gathered at the Government House on the invitation of the state governor who wanted their support in the April governorship election.
It was gathered that over 2000 fresh graduates of the state had converged at the Ibom Hall grounds as the governor had promised them cash and immediate employment if he gets their support come April.
In their reaction to the incident, the wily predators - that's the Akwa Ibom State government - banned all solidarity visits and political rallies to the governor’s office by prey and the clueless till further notice or when cannon fodder is required again.
We are all responsible for the choices we make in life and live (or die) by the consequences.
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