With less than 48 days to the 16th November 2019 Governorship elections, the atmosphere within and around the state capital is charged with political parties and their candidates wooing electorates with campaign messages. This election has great significance not only to the electoral umpire but to Kogites considering the burning issues that arose from the 2015 elections.
There has been considerable efforts by several stakeholders including many Civil Society organizations on the need for the political parties to eschew violence and promote peaceful campaigns before and leading up to the Election Day.
The incident of gun shots that happened during the recent road rally of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Lokoja town has further heightened the already tensed situation. It brings to fore the urgent need for increased efforts at curbing violence in our electoral process.
Investigations show that this was the actions of an overzealous security personnel in the entourage of the rally organizers. This act had immediate repercussions as it further strengthened the perception that this election is going to be violent and that the ruling political party was the major perpetrator.
Investigations has however shown that this was not a planned incident but rather the action of a single individual who out of zeal to impress his employers decided to endanger the lives of not only the rally organizers but that of the immediate community around him.
We call on the APC to immediately investigate the remote and immediate cause of the incident and ensure that the said individual is sanctioned. They must also publicly declare the support for a violence free elections come 16th November 2019 and show that the Party and its structures are opposed to all forms of electoral violence.
We also call on the Party candidate in the November 16th 2019 election, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello and his running mate Chief Edward Onoja, to take the opportunity and douse the tension in the polity by coming out to condemn the actions of this individual and pledge their individual and party support for a violence free elections.
We also call on the youths and our communities to all rise up with a unified voice to request for a violence free, issued based campaigns in this all important election.
Signed:
Hamza Aliyu
Executive Director,
Initiative for Grassroot Advancement (INGRA)
