Reduce tension ahead of Edo election, politicians told

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has called on politicians in Nigeria to reduce the tension building up ahead of the September 19 Edo governorship elections.

A statement by its director, Idayat Hassan, made available to the media at the weekend, urged political parties and their candidates to focus the conversation in the remaining period of the campaign on development and governance issues. 

The statement also called for the enforcement of provisions of the Electoral Act to prosecute political actors seeking to undermine the election, while urging INEC, political parties, the media, CSOs and community groups to engage the electorate in conversations which will highlight the problem of disinformation.

“The initiative must educate voters on how to identify and discountenance fake news, misinformation and disinformation; it equally called for dissemination of peace messages to reduce the tension and build voter confidence in the electoral process,” the statement said.

The statement noted some activities exhibited by political actors in the state seeks to undermine the election, stressing that if not urgently addressed, these challenges would compromise the elections and taint the sanctity of the vote.

In its pre-election briefing paper titled: New Allegiances, Familiar Faces: A Preview of Edo 2020 Gubernatorial Election, the CDD observed that since the start of the Edo governorship election campaign, there has been defacing or outright destruction of campaign billboards by supporters of rival partisan camps in the state.

The report said the trend, as documented by CDD observers on the ground, showed that in the stronghold of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), campaign billboards belonging to the All Progressives Congress (APC) are targeted and defaced and vice versa.

CDD observers also reported that foot soldiers of politicians across the state, especially in rural communities, have engaged in the exchange of verbal abuses, hate songs and chants, capable of provoking violent confrontation at a localised level.

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