A senior Lecturer in the Mass Communication Department, Nasarawa State University, Prof. Anthony Igyuve, has noted that the worst democratic government is better than the best military rule.
He, therefore, urged Nigerians to eschew violence, embrace peace through dialogue, and resolve conflicts through legal means.
His admonition followed calls by a section of Nigerians for an interim government, due to alleged irregularities in the just concluded general elections.
Igyuve, who spoke at the launch of the ‘Peace-for-Free’ lecture series, organized by the Peace For Free Initiative in Kaduna, appealed to Nigerians to put the elections behind them and join hands to build a peaceful and prosperous Nigeria.
He said: “Our democracy and elections are evolving and that is why we need to be a credible part of that process, so that at the end of the day, we can be proud that we have contributed to democracy’s sustainability because the worst democracy is better than the best military rule.”
This came as hundreds of youths from across Kaduna State, who gathered at the event, vowed to remain peaceful and law-abiding after the elections.
The youths identified injustice, breach of agreement, fake news, hate speech, nepotism, intolerance, inequality and others as some of the factors responsible for post-election violence.
In his address, Founder and Convener, Peace For Free Initiative, Chris Oge Kalu, said the peace campaign was fallout of the 2023 rounds of elections.
He said: “A lot of people claimed that the process was marred with a lot of irregularities. So, as a civil society organisation, we quickly moved in to engage the people, especially youths, asking them to eschew violence.
“This is a national peace campaign. We started in Asaba, Delta State, then moved to Lagos, Abakaliki and Maiduguri. We are now in Kaduna, from where we will be moving to Jos, Plateau State.”
He added: “No matter what, there is always a way to address our differences, whether through dialogue or judicial process. We need to trust the process because we are one. Peace is not the absence of conflict.”
