Tonye Princewill, a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress in Rivers State has said there will be no electoral violence in Rivers State in 2019 general elections.
Princewil, who said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, advised residents of the state to stop expecting electoral violence next year.
He said that those with such idea were those that had lost hope in the possibility of a peaceful and credible election in the state.
According to him, the perception of people followed the spate of violence, especially during the suspended Port Harcourt Constituency 3 elections held some months ago.
He said there thought were some pockets of violence in parts of the state, the people should not rule out the possibility of a violence-free electoral process.
He said, “For us in Rivers, the message of peace is very important, some individuals have taken for granted the fact that the state is struggling with violence, insecurity and other social vices and have labelled it a crisis-prone state.
“Some perceived a negative outcome in the forthcoming general elections in Rivers and are expecting that the state would be characterised by violence.
“We should be cautious about what we say because hate speech is also a threat to national peace, our words could ignite violence too.
“I have lent from our governorship candidate, Mr Tonye Cole, that politics should be devoid of bickering and hate speech.
“That is why I have turned down every verbal attack on the present Wike led-administration.
“Now I can see that there is no need heating up the polity with utterances or statements that could be misinterpreted.
“I believe that our political opponents would feel the same way to help us achieve credible elections, because it takes two to tango.“
(NAN)
