Politics
How To Avoid Electoral Violence In 2023 – CAN, Sultan
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Archbishop Daniel Okoh, and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad III have alerted stakeholders to the dangers of electoral violence, including all related forms of rigging and hate speech.
This call-to-action was made at the Inclusive Security Dialogue held on Monday in Abuja and facilitated by the Global Peace Foundation (Nigeria) in partnership with ADI International and Vision Africa.
The meeting provided a platform for community leaders representing various dissidents, militia, and agitation groups in Nigeria to dispassionately unbundle barriers to peace and security in the country.
Speaking, the CAN President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, warned against electoral violence, saying the consequences are capable of truncating the country’s democratic process.
According to him, while curbing pre- and post-election violence in Nigeria is a herculean task, well-meaning Nigerians and other development partners who want the country to depart from the orgies of electoral violence and its attendant consequences should not be discouraged.
He charged the security agencies to be alive to their responsibilities to enforce the law against perpetrators of electoral violence, stressing that the peace accord signed by presidential candidates should not be mere formality.
Archbishop Okoh said, “Although since 2014 some leaders of great influence in Nigeria led by the former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar on the platform of National Peace Committee get the commitment of the Presidential Candidates of Parties by encouraging them to sign Peace Accord, the security agencies must be alive to their responsibilities to enforce the law against perpetrators of election violence.
“It is clear that the intention of the National Peace Committee is not just to fulfil all righteousness. The signing of the Peace Accord should be followed up diligently by law enforcement agents in order to ensure compliance by all parties with severe consequences for breaching the agreement.”
He urged both the state and the federal governments to make genuine efforts to create employment opportunities for the teeming youth or provide entrepreneurship training and funding opportunities for their small-scale businesses to prevent them from deploying their youthful energy into the destructive exercise of electoral violence.
The Christian religious leader described the incidences of drug and substance abuse by youths as an enabler of electoral violence.
He further charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be impartial in its conducts before, during and after elections.
Archbishop Okoh said, “INEC must be seen to give a level playing ground to all the candidates and their political parties. The allegations of connivance of the electoral officers with party agents to frustrate voters on the day of election or to tamper with the election results should not be allowed to resurface in the forth-coming elections. Sometimes post-election violence is triggered by alleged unfairness and injustice demonstrated by the officers of the electoral body.
“The election of 2023 holds the key to our progress as a nation or our designation as a failed or a failing state.”
The CAN President also stated that religious leaders must be seen to be non-partisan and impartial in their public and private statements in order to gain the respect of all, especially their followers.
In the same breath, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad III, urged religious leaders in the country to use their platforms to discourage participation in electoral violence amongst youths.
Represented at the dialogue by Uztaz (Dr) Hussaini Zakariyya, the Sultan said, “Religious leaders are the most important and influential block in every society, especially in Nigeria by their nature and space, very religious people.
“Every Muslim, every Christian is proud to be what he is and what he believes. And not only that, he is willing to protect life with all that he has and everything he owns.
“ Therefore, unless and until religious leaders are involved directly into the peace-building process to bring about peaceful coexistence of Nigerians, there will be no peace. Nobody has actually the power and the influence like just religious leaders.”
Earlier, the President of Vision Africa, Bishop Sunday Onuoha, stated that peace and security in Nigeria were more important than campaigning for votes, warning that the country may be at the precipice of a historic change, if care is not taken.
He said, “If there is no peace, no one will come out to campaign or to vote. With the rate of wanton killing in the country today, an average Nigerian is asking: is Nigeria at war with itself? Why is it that people can no longer go to the farm without being kidnapped or raped in their own farms, and some even raped in their homes in the presence of members of their family – the cries of our innocent women have gone loud, and if the state cannot protect them, we should worry about them fighting back. Our highways that were initially death-traps, have also become kidnapping zones, and even the national capital appears to be under siege.
“If this is not an emergency situation, then what is? The time to act is now,” he added.
Former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar has resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Alhaji Abubakar disclosed his intention to leave the opposition party in a letter addressed to the PDP ward chairman in Jada, Jada Local Government Area (LGA) of Adamawa state.
Alhaji Abubakar described his departure from the PDP as “heartbreaking”, saying the party has strayed from the ideals on which it was founded.
“I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude for the opportunities I have been given by the Party,” Alhaji Abubakar said.
“Serving two full terms as Vice President of Nigeria and being a presidential candidate twice has been one of the most significant chapters of my life.
“As a founding father of this esteemed Party, it is indeed heartbreaking for me to make this decision.
“However, I find it necessary to part ways due to the current trajectory the Party has taken, which I believe diverges from the foundational principles we stood for.
“It is with a heavy heart that I resign, recognising the irreconcilable differences that have emerged.
“I wish the Party and its leadership all the best in the future”, he added.
Alhaji Abubakar’s resignation from the PDP comes days after the opposition coalition politicians adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as their political platform for the 2027 elections.
Among the coalition leaders are Rotimi Amaechi, a former Transportation Minister; Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election; Nasir el-Rufai, former Kaduna State Governor; and John Oyegun, former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Others include Sule Lamido, former Governor of Jigawa State; Uche Secondus, former PDP National Chairman; Babangida Aliyu, former Governor of Niger State; Sam Egwu, former governor of Ebonyi State; Aminu Tambuwal, former Governor of Sokoto State; and Liyel Imoke, former Governor of Cross River State, among others.
A group, ‘Concerned Bayelsa Stakeholders Forum (CBSF),’ has intensified calls on the State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The CBSF which comprises members of various political parties, non-partisan citizens and residents of the state also has non-indigenes and people from different religious organisations as members.
Speaking at a world press conference held in Yenagoa, the State capital on Tuesday, the group, through its convener who doubles as Technical Adviser to the Governor on Media/Public Affairs, Snr. Comrade Wisdom Ikuli, passed a confidence vote on Governor Diri, commending his selfless service to the State and the Ijaw nation.
Mr Ikuli averred that there was need for the state to align with the federal government. Citing the benefits of having a government at the centre that can attract development to the state, he noted that the PDP at the national level had been long enmeshed in crisis.
“The current leadership of the PDP under whose platform the governor is leading the state has been hijacked by few individuals. This poses threats to the interest of the state.
“Presently, our state is standing alone as the only PDP state in the whole of the South South region. The above may not be too much an issue. The greatest challenge here is the hijack of the PDP by few individuals and the very dangerous traps that they have set for Bayelsa in 2027, particularly those that intend to fly the flag of PDP.
“There are concluded arrangements to hide under the excuse of crisis and countless court cases in PDP at different levels to work to nullify the nomination of all candidates that will emerge under the party platform. So, we can imagine the pains, agony and disarray that the state shall experience if the state remains in PDP.
“The ongoing Coalition is also an embodiment of people who conspired to deny Bayelsa State and indeed the entire Ijaw Nation, a second term at the Presidency in 2015. Thus, the coalition can never be an option.
“ It is based on the above that we unanimously appeal to the Governor to defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to show southern solidarity with other southern governors who are with Mr. President”, the group said.
“But as we move forward, one of the greatest priorities in the alliance with the centre should be the actualisation of the Agge Seaport that will help to boost the state economy and also bring about unimaginable transformation and prosperity. In the next few days we shall begin a daily rally on the streets of Yenagoa to prevail on His Excellency to do the needful.
“Finally, His Excellency should ignore all opposing voices against his defection. We say this because they are all fighting to protect their individual political interest without prioritising that of the state and the entire Ijaw nation.
“ We wish to reassure His Excellency that vast majority of Bayelsans are with him and together, we shall move forward”, the CBSF added.
The group thanked President Bola Tinubu for appointing Ijaw sons and daughters into key positions, including Senator Heineken Lokpobiri as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources; Chief Samuel Ogbuku as Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC); Chief Ebitimi Amgbare as Managing Director, Niger Delta Basin Development Authority (NDBDA), amongst others.
Meanwhile, the CBSF has also charged Governor Diri to prioritize the actualization of the Agge Deep Seaport project, saying it will boost the economy of the state and bring about transformation and prosperity, noting, however, that plans have reached advanced stages for the CBSF to hit the streets of Yenagoa with rallies with a view to prevailing on the governor to defect to the APC.
Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa
The Speaker made the call on Wednesday while hosting councillors from the 13 local government areas of the State in his residence in Lafia, the state capital.
Rt Hon. Jatau said that a good working relationship among the arms of government at the council level was key to development, hence, the need for his call in that direction.
He appreciated the councillors for condoling with him over the death of his younger sister, Hajaratu Jatau, and prayed to God to bless them abundantly.
“I started as a councillor, and today I am the Speaker. There is the need for a good working relationship between you and the elected chairmen for development to thrive at the grassroots. It is in view of this that I want to call on you to give your elected chairmen all the necessary and needed support to succeed. For development to thrive at the grassroots, you must embrace one another and see yourselves as team players,” the Speaker said.
Rt Hon. Jatau also called on them to coexist peacefully among themselves and continue to drum up support for Governor Abdullahi Sule’s administration to succeed.
Besides, he assured them that the state government would soon organise training for them to deliver effective service.
Rt Hon. Jatau also assured them that the state government would pay them their furniture allowance, as well as other benefits, to enhance their legislative work.
Earlier, the chairman of the Nasarawa State Councillors Forum, Mohammed Madaki, who is the Leader of Lafia LGA Legislative Assembly, said that the visit was to identify with the Speaker over the death of his sister.
The leader of the delegation urged the Speaker to see the death of his sister as an act of God and bear the irreplaceable loss.
Mr Madaki assured the Speaker of their loyalty and support at all times.
The chairman, however, appealed to the Speaker to intervene in the training of the councillors as well as the payment of their furniture allowance.
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