NOA urges political parties to educate followers against violence

THE National Orientation Agency (NOA) on Thursday in Abuja urged political parties to educate their followers against violence during the general elections.

The Director-General of the agency, Mr Mike Omeri, made the call at a re-orientation programme to sensitise Nigerians on the need for peaceful elections.

The programme with a theme “The Next President Talk-Show on Election 2015” was organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors and Living Legends Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).

Represented by Mrs Ngozi Ekeoba, Director, Political and Civic Education in the agency, Omeri decried the level of violence and threats in the build-up to the elections.

He blamed the situation on hate-speech adopted by some politicians to gain the sympathy of the electorate.

He explained that NOA embarked on advocacy visits to political parties to promote patriotism, peace and unity of the country as well as to encourage healthy political campaigns.

“This period comes with a lot of anxiety among the populace, and political parties have a responsibility to educate their followers and candidates in the direction of peace and unity.

“Our basic appeal is to extract the commitment of political parties and their members to a civil and peaceful attitude during the process leading to the election,’’ he said.

Omeri condemned the attitude of politicians who malign their opponents as a political weapon, and advised the electorate to beware of politicians with no respect for their opponents.

“Such politicians will have no respect for the electorate if given the mandate of leadership via the ballot,” he said.

He stressed that mutual respect and separation of issues from persons must form part of the guiding philosophies of politicians if the trend of hate-speech was to be addressed.

Similarly, the National Youth Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Maibasira Abdullahi, reminded politicians to be cautious of the impact their comments would have on their followers.

Abdullahi, who was represented by Mr Ohima Amaizu, National Coordinator, Rethink Nigeria, a pro-democracy group, said, ‘’as leaders, what we say and do goes a long way in influencing and impacting on our followers.

“We must therefore be the change we want to see.’’

Mr Frank Okechukwu, Executive Director of Living Legends, said that the event was organised to ensure that the message of non-violent elections was given media attention.

Okechukwu tasked media practitioners to ensure that the messages got to the grassroots in order to achieve the expected result. (NAN)