Politics

How To Avoid Electoral Violence In 2023 – CAN, Sultan

Published

2 years ago

November 22, 2022

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.

Politics

Call For Rivers CTC Chairmen’s Arrest Illegal -Commissioner, Others

Published

1 day ago

July 26, 2024

The Tide

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

Politics

Speak Directly To Electorate, Edo Govt Challenges APC’s Okpebholo

Published

1 day ago

July 26, 2024

The Tide

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?”

Politics

PDP Chieftain Drums Support For Rivers LG Polls

Published

1 day ago

July 26, 2024

The Tide

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