The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) has called for violent free elections in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states on Saturday, November 11, 2023.
The Director General of the Institute, Dr. Joseph Ochogwu, in a statement, asked that all stakeholders should ensure that elections in the three states are without violence and bloodletting.
He noted that the off-cycle elections present peculiar challenges because of violence in some of the states, adding that pockets of violence were noticed during the campaigns.
Ochogwu also advised that the key actors in the elections should ensure that the credibility of the elections is not questioned by playing by the rules.
Noting that the Army, Police and other security agencies have promised to ensure that the elections are violent free, he advised that “stakeholders in the election should on their part ensure that their supporters maintain peace during and after election”.
He recalled that at least 18 political parties taking part in Saturday’s governorship poll in Imo State have signed a peace accord to eschew violence before, during and after the exercise.
But Ochogwu noted that signing of peace accord alone cannot guarantee peace.
He said: “The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution calls for violence-free, rule based elections, so that the credibility of the elections is not questioned.
“The key actors should play by the rules. Election is not a do or die affair. You have to be alive to be in politics. Politics is not done in isolation. The key actors should have it at the back of their mind that nothing can be achieved with violence.”
