CSOs Task Political Parties On Issue-Based Campaigns

Civil Society Organisations (CSO’s) in Rivers State have called on political parties in the state to focus on issues in their campaigns ahead of the general elections this year.
The State Chairman of the Civil Society Organisations, Enefaa Georgewill who made the call in Port Harcourt urged political parties to tell the people what they have in store for them and refrain from attacking each other.
Georgewill also cautions political parties and their candidates to avoid utterances that are capable of heating up the polity especially as the elections draw nearer.
He stated, “Rivers State Civil Society Organisations (RIV-CSO’s) call on all political parties and their candidates to stick to issues based campaigns and not to distract us from the main issues with petty quarrels, verbal attacks and name calling.
“It is our opinion that Rivers people want to see and listen to campaign programmes around security, unemployment, provision of water, sanitation, flood, sooth, open governance, education, development of more cities, subsistence and industrial agriculture.
“RIV-CSOs plead with political parties and their supporters to tolerate each other and stop the destruction of billboards and posters of opposite political parties as healthy competition is the hallmark of democracy,” Georgewill said.
Georgewill further said that the coalition of civil society organisations are demanding a blueprint from all the politicians seeking offices in this year’s general elections to enable the electorates assess them properly.

Dennis Naku