2023 Poll: NGO urges media professionals to support peaceful elections

Development Integrity Goal Foundation (DIGF), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO, has urged media practitioners to promote violence free polls in 2023 general elections.

Mr. Oliver Aja, the Executive Director ofDIGF, made the call in Abakaliki on Wednesday during the sensitization of media practitioners in Ebonyi on peaceful elections in 2023.

Aja said that the sensitization became imperative given the pockets of pre-election violence being witnessed in parts of the state.

He said that the theme of the campaign is, 'Vote Not Fight, Election No Be War' and was designed to drive home the message that politicians should not conceive election as a do-or-die affair.

According to him, the campaign is aimed at promoting peaceful elections in the state, and he urged the press to join the crusade in the promotion of peaceful, free, and credible elections in Nigeria.

"Let's all be committed to a peaceful election; we are all citizens of Nigeria and indigenes of the state, and if there is a crisis, it will affect everyone, including you journalists; so, we must therefore collectively work to ensure violence-free polls in the state."

"So, we are promoting a peaceful election in our communities, and it is a very good one, and it will benefit everyone in the state," Aja said.

Earlier, Mr. George Etamiso of the Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Centre (HRCRC) said that the campaign would foster a peaceful and credible electoral process devoid of violence.

He called on media practitioners to use their various platforms to minimize or mitigate the factors that lead to election violence through credible information, education, and enlightenment of the general public.

"With the media being the anchor of spreading and disseminating news and activities, we are leveraging this exercise to get you involved in this initiative to minimize electoral tension and violence in the 2023 election in Ebonyi."

" Election has not even started and we are having incidences that are not too positive to our electoral system in Nigeria; so, we are pleading that you carry out this message that 'election no be war, vote not fight' in all your activities and messages," Etameso said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Paul Nwankwo, coordinator of the initiative at the Ebonyi Central senatorial zone and also executive director of the Humanity Foundation, an NGO, said that the campaign was targeted at ensuring a peaceful election in the state.

Nwankwo said that flashpoints in the state had been identified, stressing that journalists should get the news and follow up to mitigate electoral violence through timely reportage.

"We understand that the political temperature in the state is rising with incidences of violence in parts of the state and the essence of the "Vote Not Fight" campaign.

"We, from the civil society and non-state actors' angles, want us to have a peaceful, credible, and free election," Nwankwo said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 'Vote Not Fight: Election No Be War' campaign initiative is funded by Tuface Idibia Foundation.