Tina Stephen
The public has been called upon to join the grass root movement in a bid to stop
the menace of electoral violence and fraudulent elections in Rivers State.
Coordinator of the Initiative for Credible Elections in Rivers state
Ledum Mitee, who made the call during a stakeholders meeting at the Nigerian Union of Journalist Secretariat Moscow road on Tuesday, said that the movement is targeted at sensitizing everyone at the grassroot level on the need to save the state from more bloodshed during elections.
He explained that violent elections reinforce the perception of insecurity which scares away businesses and thus deprives the youth of employment opportunities.
“we have examined the reasons, we found ourselves in the ironical situation that in the midst of such endowments and natural advantages, we continue to be the butt of jokes, ridicules, with the growing perception of Rivers State as theater of violence, due to the kind of elections we have witnessed”
Mitee, however, noted that the outcome of elections in the state has been
subversion of the democratic process rather than its consolidation.
“Elections which represent the modern and universally accepted process through which individuals are openly and democratically chosen by the people to represent in government have recently been characterized by electoral fraud associated with political tensions, crisis, and frightening levels of violence.
“We are thus confronted with the cyclical paradox where businesses and ordinary citizens have been forced to relocate with their families outside Rivers state”
He said further that Initiative for Credible Elections is conceived as a grassroots movement of citizens and residents to tackle the menace of electoral violence and fraudulent elections in the state.
Also speaking, Convener, of the Initiative Suofiri Peterside, urged youths of the state
to stop being ready tools for recruitment in the hands of desperate politicians to perpetrate violence during elections.
