The Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), an NGO, has given political candidates the job of running issue-based campaigns rather than stirring up the political climate with defamation and hate campaigns.
During the South-East Stakeholders meeting on Friday in Enugu in advance of the General Elections, CTA's Executive Director, Faith Nwadishi, made the call.
Elections are also harmed by vote buying and selling, according to Nwadishi.
She asserts that candidates should run issues-based campaigns rather than stirring up partisan animosity or inspiring dread in the hearts of those who plan to cast ballots.
Nwadishi also encouraged security organisations to provide proper security during election times, stating that voters had great expectations for making sure their ballots were counted.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would be one of many stakeholders that the CTA will involve in order to ensure legitimate elections, according to the ED.
“INEC announced that 171 domestic, 18 foreign and 4 international organizations invited by INEC have been accredited as observer groups respectively,” she said.
Nwadishi called for better synergy between the police, the lead security agency on election security and other members of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCESS) with stakeholders on the election.
She urged security agencies to share important information with other stakeholders, especially on flashpoints as well as ensure their personnel were well-trained on election duties.
She said: “The Centre, which has continued to observe elections in the country, including all the off-season elections leading to the 2023 general elections, will be observing this election by deploying observers across the 36 states and the FCT in Nigeria.
“These observers will be trained on election observation and adherence to INEC Election Guidelines. At this meeting, we have in attendance representatives from the five South-East States who will be observing the elections with CTA.
“The CTA will also be setting up an Election Day Situation Room in Abuja to receive reports in real-time from the field observers”.
The executive director said that the meeting would provide an opportunity to have a conversation with stakeholders, and examine critical issues and situations in relation to the 2023 General Elections.
“A key outcome expected from this meeting is the commitment from stakeholders to ensure peaceful, credible, free, fair, inclusive, and conclusive elections come February and March,” she added.
Speaking, Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Mr Ahmed Ammani, represented by the Police Spokesperson, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, assured the electorate and stakeholders of the commitment of security agencies to protect lives and property during the elections.
The commissioner enjoined all stakeholders to also play active roles in ensuring peaceful elections.
In his remarks, Dr Emeka Ononamadu, the immediate past Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in Enugu State, called for commitment from electorates to ensure a violence-free election, adding “you must sacrifice energy and time to get democracy right”.
“We need to make time for an incredible and violence-free election in the country.
“It is not something that will happen at your own instance alone but on the instance of all,” he said.
(NAN)