Politics
Electoral Violence: South-East Stakeholders Demand Adherence To Electoral Act
Some political stakeholders in the South-East have reiterated that effective implementation of the Electoral Act would assist in check-mating electoral violence in the 2023 general elections in the country.
The stakeholders made the call while reacting to a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) survey on checkmating Electoral Violence ahead of the 2023 General Elections in the country.
Nelson Nwafor, the Executive Director of Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development (FENRAD) in Abia, said that electoral violence was a “serious threat” to the achievement of sustainable democracy in Nigeria.
According to him, the menace has become detrimental to democratic sustainability in Nigerian politics and required swift action toward addressing the issue.
Mr Nwafor said that politicians and the electorate were jointly responsible for the continued occurrence of electoral violence recorded during electioneering periods.
He commended the federal government for the Electoral Act (2022), adding that it would play a vital role in guiding the conduct of the politicians and electorate during the elections.
He charged political parties to ensure that the campaigns of their candidates were issue-based to enable them to build a work plan that would facilitate delivery of democracy dividend to the citizenry.
Mr Nwafor called on relevant agencies to conduct regular sensitisation campaigns on the need for the electorate to be law abiding during the electioneering period.
A teacher, Kingsley Kalu, said he had vowed never to participate in the country’s general elections again because of his experience in 2019.
He said that he almost lost his life while working as an adhoc staff to the Independent National Electoral Commission, as thugs invaded the venue in an attempt to snatch the ballot box.
“If not for the intervention of the police, I would have died as these boys came, descended on me and my colleagues in one of the remote communities in the state during the House of Assembly election,” he said.
He expressed hope in the new Electoral Act, saying that it would curb electoral violence because there would be no snatching of ballot boxes.
In Ebonyi, some analysts have advised politicians across states of the federation to focus on issue based campaigns that could bring development to the nation and desist from causing violence.
They decried the way thuggery had brought a lot of conflicts in the Nigeria political system including ethnicity, religion and tribalism amongst others.
Thamos Ikenna, a lawyer, noted that the issue of thuggery during campaigns and elections started as a result of bad governance. “Failure of political leaders to do the needful in providing gainful employment for the teeming population of youths.
“The youths remained the instruments used by politicians to perpetrate these violent crimes in the country. “These violence are being caused as a result of bad governance, unemployment, poverty, bribery and corruption amongst others,” Mr Ikenna said.
Monday Nkwoagu, Bishop of Anglican Communion, Diocese of Abakaliki, condemned the incessant killings and violence so far experienced in the country ahead of the 2023 general polls.
Mr Nkwoagu tasked politicians on peaceful campaigns and added that violence was not a strategy to win elections.
Also speaking, Professor Benard Odoh, 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Ebonyi, said that a peaceful campaign could bring security of lives and property for the people.
“It is better to campaign on issues rather than concentrating on destruction of campaign materials and all sorts of violence,” he advised. Mr Odoh stressed the need to implement laws and strengthen them against thuggery and political violence in the country.
He called on youths in particular and colleagues in various political parties to steer clear of the act and focus on issues that could bring development to the state and nation at large.
“Elections should not be seen as war against persons,” Mr Odoh added.
In Anambra, politicians contesting positions during the 2023 general elections are yet to begin campaigns, apparently because only state and national elections would be conducted in the state.
A check by our source showed that most of the candidates were still doing consultations, a month after the Electoral Act as amended had okayed commencement of campaigns for the 2023 elections.
Chukwuma Agufugo, state secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said the party was yet to inaugurate its state chapter of the campaign council.
He said that political activities were still low because the state was not holding a governorship election, but only national and state assembly elections.
“For now, I can say that we are not hearing anything about thuggery and violence and we believe that such problems usually take place towards the end of campaign period,” he said.
Paul-Chuks Umenduka, an Awka-based politician, said the state might not witness incidences of violence during the ongoing political process.
According to Mr Umenduka, my feeling is that most people are enlightened and might not be tricked into political violence as before.
“I see a paradigm shift in the cases of political thuggery and violence in next year’s elections because of two reasons.
“Most Nigerians are aware that the electronic transmission of results from the polling units will make nonsense of snatching of ballot boxes.
“Again the common knowledge among most citizens now that those engaged for thuggery and other dirty political jobs by politicians are now aware of the consequences of engaging in such practices,” he said.
Mr Umenduka, who said that his position was informed by some preliminary findings made in his Aguata area, added that most youths now decline invitations for membership of pressure groups.
He said, before now, the pressure groups formed ahead of every dispensation often turned into recruiting windows for thugs.
He however, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, the media, civil society organisations to intensify enlightenment on the danger of thuggery and violence during elections.
Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr Joe Johnson, and other stakeholders have condemned the call by the embattled Martin Amaewhule-led members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for the arrest of Local Government Caretaker Chairmen in the state.
The Commissioner, who made his position known in a voice note he sent a live radio discussion programme in Port Harcourt, described the call as illegal.
He explained that the Local Government Caretaker Committees were empowered by the State Local Government law of 2018, stressing that since the amendment made to the law by former lawmakers in their tenure elongation bid was dismissed by the court, the 2018 law is still subsisting.
According to the Commissioner, the 2018 law provides a window of 90 days for caretaker committees in the event that election could not be held and urged the public to discountenance the call.
Meanwhile, the Coalition of Rivers State Leaders of Johnson Thoughts (CORSLOT), a socio- political organisation, has joined in condemning the call.
Convener of the Coalition, High Chief Sunnie Chukumele, described the call as an act of brigandage.
He said the call is not only unconstitutional but also capable of causing disaffection in the state.
Chief Chukumele argued that Martin Amaewhule lacked the locus standi to make the call since he was no longer a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“CORSLOT condemned the call, and we want to warn Martin Amaewhule against causing crisis in the state”, he said.
He said as elders of the state, the Coalition will continue to speak out against evil.
Also reacting, a former Organizsing Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Andoni Local Government Area, Elder Blessing Tiko, said the call was coming from someone that is seeking for relevance.
He also said Martin Amaewhule and the 25 former law makers had no locus standi to make such call as their positions were being contested in court, urging the police to ignore the call.
John Bibor
As the campaign for the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State heats up, the Edo State Government has challenged the candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpebholo, to address the electorate directly and not through the over 150 spokesmen who speak on his behalf.
Addressing a press conference, Wednesday, the duo of Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, and Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, said that it was embarrassing that in the last three months, Senator Okpebholo had not addressed the people directly.
They therefore challenged the APC candidate to address the people of the state in any language of his choice, for, at least, five minutes.
Speaking, Mr Nehikhare noted that the APC had in the last three months issued over 150 press statements without one of the statements mentioning what the party intended to do for the people of Edo State, if elected.
Mr Nehikhare, who said that Governor Obaseki should be commended for the maturity he displayed in handling the violence that broke out in the state penultimate Thursday, bemoaned a situation where the APC had not deemed it necessary to mention one line item it planned to execute should it be elected in the forthcoming election.
“We led the charge for the N70,000 minimum wage, which the APC Federal Government has copied. Our candidate, Asue Ighodalo, has said that he would review it upward if elected. The APC has not said what it intends to do. The APC has not shown any innovative way to involve itself in the minimum wage.
“Since September last year, we introduced the free bus ride scheme, and we have extended it to November. Nowhere from the APC have we heard what it wants to do. We have employed over 5,000 people into the civil service, apart from the teaching service; there has been nothing from the APC,” the commissioner stated.
According to Mr Nehikhare, “The APC candidate is the only one with over 150 people speaking for him and none has said anything about what the APC candidate will do for the people. Is that how to do it? Won’t the candidate speak for himself?”
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, Dr.John Okoroafor, has called on Rivers people, especially supporters of the PDP, to commit to the success of the forthcoming local government elections in the state.
Addressing newsmen recently in Okehi, headquarters of the LGA, on his readiness to contest the chairmanship seat of the council in the scheduled October 5, 2024 Local Government polls, Dr Okoroafor urged supporters of the party to remain calm, steadfast and supportive to Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s administration.
On political crisis in the state, he enjoined the people not to yield to threats of those he described as “enemies of Rivers development and progress,” but rather stay committed and proactive in their support to both the Governor and the PDP as it affects the coming elections.
Dr Okoroafor, a lawyer and Deputy State Coordinator of a political pressure group in the state, the PDP-Grassroots Support Base of Nigeria (PDP-GSBN), stressed that, “We should not allow ourselves to be intimidated or terrorised to fail in this civic responsibility.”
He said this is necessary so that leaders and loyalists of the party in the state would not be harassed, intimidated and arrested by security agents even on the day of election.
The PDP Chairmanship hopeful in the area also hinted that the opposition plans to engage in electoral violence and all manner of distractions.
“In all of these, be civil, calm, tolerant and focused, as the best is around the corner for us all”, he admonished.
The PDP chieftain appealed to Etche electorate in particular and Rivers voters in general to rise up to vote massively for all the PDP candidates in the polls.
Dr Okoroafor enjoined them not to vote in anyone that is opposed to the Governor Fubara -led government, arguing that the opposition lacked credibility and does not mean well for them.
He assumed Etche people that if voted in to power as Chairman, he will facilitate more development projects to the LGA, including jobs and other dividends of democracy.
Meanwhile, Dr Okoroafor said it had become necessary to encourage unemployed graduates to engage in skills acquisition rather than roaming the streets for employment opportunities, that do not exist.
Bethel Toby
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