POLLS: Parties, candidates must eschew violence — Afenifere

Forum 1 year ago

POLLS: Parties, candidates must eschew violence — Afenifere

THE pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, yesterday, expressed concern over the increasing verbal and physical attacks that are characterizing election campaigns in various parts of the country.

Afenifere, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Jare Ajayi, urged political parties and their candidates to focus on issues regarding how they will tackle the myriad of challenges that the country is facing rather than coming up with utterances and actions that border on “de-marketing of opponents and possibly causing bodily harms on other people”.

Maintaining that Nigerian politicians ought to have matured beyond the seeming villainy they currently display, Ajayi noted that the verbal attacks emanating from some candidates and their spokespersons were “encouraging their unscrupulous supporters to violently attack opponents in a manner that could result in bloodshed.”

Expressing worry over the escalating violence in spite of various peace accords being signed by presidential candidates, Afenifere’s spokesman said: “Candidates and political parties that have good programmes to execute would not resort to verbal or physical attacks. We urge political parties and their candidates to focus on what plans they have to put an end or at least ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians.

“They should let us know that they understand they enormity of the problems facing us and that they have solutions to these problems. An end should be put to mutual self-abuse either verbally or physically.”