Next month elections: Gov Sule warns against beating drums of war

By David Odama

AHEAD of next month’s general elections Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state has warned citizens against acts that are capable of breaching the relative peace of the state.

Governor Sule stated this at a one day voter education and sensitization programme organized by the National Orientation Agency (NOA), in conjunction with the Nasarawa State Government that his administration will sanction any person or group of persons found breaching the new electoral law guiding the conduct of this year’s general elections.

He particularly warned against acts capable of encouraging politics of division, rivalry and thuggery, or beating drums of war capable of constituting a stumbling block to the state’s aspiration for enduring peace.

“As a people with common destiny, we cannot compromise peace neither can we encourage politics of division, rivalry and thuggery in our dear State. We cannot tolerate any act of misconduct capable of truncating the peaceful coexistence we are enjoying in the State in name of election.

According to the Governor, anybody found breaching the rule of engagement as stipulated in the electoral law will face appropriate wrath of the law, no matter his or her status in the society. would be made to face the wrath of the law.

While commending the National Orientation Agency for organizing the the voter education workshop to sensitize the prospectives electorates , Sule, stated that elections in Nigeria are usually marred by void ballot, voter apathy, political thuggery and other associated violence, resulting in loss of lives and destruction of property.

“With the flag-off of the Voter Education Programme, I am optimistic that the electorates will be adequately and sufficiently sensitized and mobilized towards active participation in all the electoral processes in Nasarawa State.

The Governor added that, with the release of the timeline for the conduct of the 2023 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), all hands must be on deck, to ensure peaceful, credible, free and fair elections in Nasarawa State and the country at large.

He however stressed that the conduct of free, fair and credible election is not the affairs of the INEC alone, but a collective responsibility of all including security agencies, royal fathers, religious and opinion leaders, who must come together to ensure the success of elections for the benefit of the people.

Engineer Sule used the opportunity of the event to call on all those who are yet to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC), to use the window provided by INEC to collect their PVCs.

In a keynote address, Director General, National Orientation Agency, Dr. Garba Abari, restated the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the conduct of free, fair and transparent General elections, whose would be largely accepted to the contestants and Nigerians at large.

The NOA director general called on Nigerians not to play into the hands of prophets of doom, who keep parading issues that divide the people, rather than those that unites the people, thereby creating the wrong impression suggesting that this election is make or mar.

Goodwill messages were delivered by various stakeholders at the event, with representatives of both the Christian Assaociation of Nigeria (CAN) and Jamaatul Nasril Islam affirming their convictions on the efforts of INEC towards the conduct of credible, free and fair elections.