By Luminous Jannamike

WITH about seven weeks to the 2023 general elections, over 100 civil society groups, under the aegis of Coalition for Peace and Good Governance, COPGO, have raised the alarm over the spate of political violence in the country,

According to the CSOs, the ambition of any politician is not worth the blood of a Nigerian.

They observed that political atmosphere in the country is particularly getting heated up following targeted attacks on convoys of political figures with the major actors engaging in verbal attacks and character assassination.

Also, cases of electoral violence have been recorded at the campaign rallies of  People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, with youths used as drivers.

Amid these acts of violence, a car bomb explosion killed at least three people on Dec. 29 outside the palace of the traditional leader of the Ebira tribe, Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, shortly before President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in the state to commission some projects.

However, in a communique issued yesterday in Abuja, after a conference with the theme, ‘2023 Polls: Call for Caution’, the civil society organisations maintained that Nigerians deserve a violence-free general elections this year, and politicians must watch their utterances

The communique was jointly signed on behalf of the coalition by Comrade Olufemi Lawson, Executive Director, Center for Public Accountability; Madam Gift Yusuf, the Secretary, Northern Women For Democracy and Justice; Barrister Benjamin Emeka Igwe,

Member, Steering Committee, CUPP; and Hon. Razaq Eyiowuawi, National Vice Chairman, Southwest, African Democratic Congress.

It read:  “As the elections draw near, we must all act in the spirit of nobody’s blood is worth to be spilled for the political ambition of anybody.

“A violence-free election is an irreducible minimum standard that this country deserves and whoever plans to make that impossible must be curtailed by whatever means possible.”

The communique stated that campaigns of calumny and utterances that have the potential to cause mayhem are not elements to be tolerated in the next series of elections.

It added that whoever practices it at whatever level must be dealt with by law enforcement agencies the way he/she deserves to be dealt with as laid down by extant laws.

On the Okene bomb blast, the coalition expressed serious concerns over alleged utterances and activities of some politicians in Kogi State, noting that Governor Yahaya Bello should rather be celebrated for executing so many impactful projects during his administration.

“We would not even have taken an interest in Kogi State this much if the President’s visit had not exposed a case of deliberate misrepresentation of facts on ground by those who the people of the state should regard as their enemies,” they said.

The communique further described as unfortunate the reaction of some politicians in Kogi state, including Mrs Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, a Senatorial candidate, to the bomb blast; accusing her of dishing out casualty figures of the bomb blast on social media even before police commenced preliminary investigations.

“We state unequivocally that security agencies must fish out those unpatriotic politicians for questioning.

“In all, we call on politicians and those saddled with the responsibility of seeing to the socio-economic wellbeing of Nigerians to rise up to the challenges we have currently in the country, ensure free and fair elections and also deal decisively with those instigating violence, either with fake news or unverifiable allegations,” the communique stressed.