Post-Election Violence Victims Lament Government’s Neglect

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The victims of the post-election violence in Kaduna State and some states in the northern part of Nigeria are lamenting what they called government’s neglect and failure to keep to its promise to disburse funds, in form of relief assistance, to people who suffered losses during the incident.

On April 24, 2013, the Federal Government of Nigeria announced the approval of 5.7 billion Naira relief assistance to nine out of the 14 affected states for disbursement.

But the Kaduna victims on Wednesday complained that three years after the crisis, they were yet to receive any assistance from the Federal Government despite the fact that the state was the worst hit.

They lamented that life had become unbearable since they lost their means of livelihood in the incident..

Among the properties destroyed was an eatery outlet located along the Nnamdi Azikiwe western bye-pass in Kaduna metropolis. It was among the buildings razed by hoodlums during the incident.

The owner of the property, Mr Godwin Idika, said he lost about 200 million Naira and had been out of business in the past three years. He asked the government to assist him and other victims to move on with life.

Fourteen states were affected during the violence, but the Federal Government allegedly released funds for only nine states. The victims in Kaduna State, who did not benefit from the largesse have accused the Federal Government of being discriminatory in the exercise.

States that benefited from the disbursed funds are; Bauchi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Niger, Jigawa, Katsina, Kano, Adamawa and Akwa-Ibom, while Kaduna, Borno, Yobe, Gombe, and Nasarawa States are yet to receive anything.

Though the election is two months away, many residents of the state are already planning to relocate their families. Their fear here is not to witness the ugly incident of 2011.

The spokesman to the Kaduna State Governor, Mr Ahmed Maiyaki, while reacting to the complain of the victims, said that the State Government was yet to receive any money from the Federal Government and stated that the State Government had so far disbursed over 500 million Naira to assist the victims.

Meanwhile, the expectation of the Kaduna victims and other states that are yet to benefit from the relief assistance is that the authorities concerned should, as a matter of fairness and justice, try and extend the assistance to them, and most importantly, provide adequate security for the citizens ahead of the 2015 elections in order to avoid a repeat of the ugly incident of 2011.

They also expressed hopes that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would ensure that politicians, no matter their status, abide by the Code of Conduct in any election and that Nigerians would feel free to belong to any political party of their choice and be free to elect their leaders.

Kaduna State has witnessed about four major ethno-religious crises since 2000 to date, but that of 2011 was more devastating due to the high number of casualties recorded. More than 4,000 people were reportedly killed and 50,000 displaced after supporters of a defeated candidate went on a rampage in the Northern part of Nigeria.