In getting set for the 2019 elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Nigerian Police, National Orientation Agency (NOA), on Thursday, urged politicians and their political parties to shun hate speeches in their politicking.
Gathered at the headquarters of the NSCDC, Oyo state, for a seminar entitled, “The Danger of Hate Speeches in the Polity and its Effects on the Wellbeing of the Society”, representatives of the various bodies also charged politicians to desist from fuelling acts of hooliganism by their followers before and during elections.
In sum, they called on all election stakeholders to emphasize peaceful and credible election by the ballot boxes.
In his remarks, Resident Electoral Commissioner, INEC Oyo state, Mr Mutiu Agboke called for more cohesion among political parties and the use of persuasion as a tool to sensitize their followers to ply responsible politics and shun hate speeches.
He emphasized that Nigerians must shun selfish interest for the general interest of the good of the nation, pointing out that law enforcement agencies should prosecute hate speech makers, within the ambit of the law.
Calling for an all-inclusive involvement of all stakeholders, Agboke further pleaded with the media to be more circumspect in its reportage, with politicking expected to increase ahead 2019.
In his remarks, Oyo state Commandant, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, John Adewoye decried the huge number of hate speeches and outright false information in the media space, beckoning on Nigerians to shun such speeches for the nation to be peaceful.
He urged politicians to desist from playing politics with bitterness, but commit themselves to peace in the 2019 elections.
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Speaking, Special Adviser to Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Security, Mr Segun Bolarinwa, said politics in Nigeria was getting more mature, hence the need for more intellectuals to be involved.
He said the state government was committed to peaceful local government election on May 12 and the 2019 general elections.
Keynote speaker, at the event, Dr Nathaniel Danjibo noted that transferred aggression from governmental failure and the rot in the system was responsible for pervasive hate speeches.
Danjibo, who is of the Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan, said comments of Nigerians on the media space, which represented hate speeches, showed that many Nigerians defined themselves by their ethnicity first before seeing themselves as Nigerians.
Rather than fuelling primordial sentiments and dissipating emerging on hate speeches, Danjibo urged Nigerians to channel individual, group and sectional interest towards making government accountable.
Speaking, Assistant Commissioner of Police in Oyo state, Chinedu Okoh said the police was putting machinery in motion to ensure a peaceful and credible election at polling booths, warning that security agencies would not tolerate hooliganism.
Also speaking, Director, Oyo NOA, Mrs Dolapo Dosmu emphasized that the success of the 2019 elections was not only a duty of government, political parties, and security agencies but a collective responsibility of all Nigerians.
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