…says INEC, NOA, media roles remain key to peaceful 2023 elections

By Gabriel Ewepu, Abuja

AS Nigeria joins rest of the world to celebrate 2023 World Day of Peace on Sunday January 1, amid daunting challenges, Founder and President , One Love Foundation, OLF, Chief Patrick Eholor, said Nigeria’s peace have been hampered over the years by political failure, religious and tribal sentiments, hence there is no peace in the country.

Eholor in a chat with Vanguard over the 2023 World Day of Peace said there is a lot to be done by those in power and Nigerians to ensure there is peace in the country, especially ahead of the February and March general elections, which the country is bracing up for.

He also said, the Foundation led by him is doing what it could to ensure there is justice, equity and fairness for all Nigerians irrespective of their tribe, religion and gender, hence always been in court for redress and justice for the oppressed.

He also said, the Foundation has been one of the foremost organisations preaching and practicing peace through various charitable and humanitarian activities including Alternative Dispute Resolution, ADR, payment of bills for the indigent, award of scholarship to the poor, building houses to accommodate the homeless, setting up business for those who lack capital, skill acquisition and empowerment programmes, and election observations, and other activities beneficial to humanity.

World Day of Peace began in 1967 when Pope Paul VI announced that the world needs to be sensitized and oriented for peace and understanding. Inspired by the papal letters “Pacem in Terris” and “Populorum Progressio”, the Pope recommended that the church play a greater role in our search for world peace, and so this day, January 1, was appointed as a holy day to celebrate efforts for world peace.

He said: “My concern and assessment of peace in Nigeria as a social crusader is that on a ratio of 100 I’d scale Nigeria 40 because there is no peace in Nigeria, here is chaos everywhere and all thanks to tribal, religion sentiments and political failure.

“As a social crusader I have over time tried in my own way to correct most loopholes in order to bring about peace that is why I have so many cases against the Federal Government and State Government. As a social crusader in Nigeria most times I do find myself in necessary troubles because the problem of this country is just too much.

“Peace is still eluding Nigerians because of the political struggles and religion sentiments that we are having and that is why you will see a Muslims not loving Christians while Christians not loving or staying in harmony with those that practice African religion.

“Meanwhile, a person in a political party would do anything to attain a position or just to see his/her political parties win.”

On conducting the 2023 general elections under a peaceful atmosphere, he said, “Nigeria still have a long way to go before the electoral process can be peaceful and these are: Media; The media as the fourth realm has a lot to do in the electoral process, they first have to be fair in their reportage and the owner of all TV and radio stations should leave sentiment aside and tell their followers how the story is. Basically, the owners of top TV/Radio stations in Nigeria are stakeholders in different political parties so they dictate to their journalists what and what they should report.

“The National Orientation Agency, NOA, has the biggest role to play in all of these, they are the one responsible for training and sensitizing the citizens on where to place their thumb on during voting and also work alongside with INEC on the need to get Voter’s Card and electoral processes, and what right the citizens have when it comes to electoral process.

“INEC – Is at the centre stage of it all, they should always try and not be bias, they should always ensure they distribute the Voters Card on time, the Voters registration should be a continuous process and be a must, it should be one of the priority in getting a job, in admission process and in recruitment.

“INEC should ensure that all political parties play by the game and there should be no sentiment in handling political gross misconduct.”