As the 2023 general elections draws closer, the Electoral Hub has called on all electoral stakeholders to do away with all forms of intolerance to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process and ensure that 2023 general election are free, fair, credible, and widely acceptable.
In commemoration of the International Tolerance Day, 2022, the Director, IRIAD-The Electoral Hub, Princess Hamman Obels in a press release issued in Abuja also urged Nigerians to shun electoral violence, disengage from spreading fake news, and religious and traditional leaders to preach the message of tolerance.
She explained that the essence of marking the International Day for Tolerance is to celebrate diversity and tolerance in practice and to ensure that we remember to create opportunities for each other’s opinions.
“If opinions or ideas are objectionable or indefensible in our eyes, it is our duty to speak up and refute them.
“We must, however, try to understand the perspectives of others to develop a dialogue and build a mutual understanding, culminating in peaceful co-existence.
“This is even more pertinent as we go into the 2023 general election. Nigeria is a diverse country with over 250 ethnic groups and over 500 languages but there is unity in our diversity; there is strength in our numbers; as Nigerians we need to learn to co-exist with one another tolerate our differences to achieve a violent free 2023 general election.
“Intolerance breeds electoral malpractices such as electoral violence, threats, harassments, fake news, misinformation, and disinformation etc,” she said.
