By Mercy Onyenweli
Ahead of the Edo Governorship election, the conveners of Rally for Peaceful Election in the State has described the level of misinformation and disinformation embarked on by the political parties and their supporters on social media are alarming and if not checkmated could snowball into violence.
Condemning the level of hate speech amongst Candidates vying for the Governorship position, the convener, Dr Bright Oniovokukor noted that Candidates have not been able to present a clear Manifesto or social contract to engage the Citizens , rather they are busy feeding the people with piece meal information, giving them false hope that might cause problem after election.
This was contained on a Press Release signed by the Convener, Dr. Bright Oniovokukor, Comrade Annie Umoru and Comrade Jude Obasanmi and made available to Newsmen in Benin City.
The statement further described that the campaign messages that have been reeled out so far are not issue based but attacks on personalities which is not the best approach for a sustainable democracy.
The Press Release reads in parts: That some of the Political Parties have issues from their primaries , internal party crisis amongst others that that are potential red flags fr cisis if not addressed.
“We are aware that when violence erupts or there is a crisis situation, generally , the innocent ones usually suffer the immediate consequences. We must call the attention of those involved stakeholders to these red flags hence we are using this medium to invite the Candidates of the various political parties and their members, electoral umpire (Independent National Electoral Commission) Agences , Media Professionals and Civil Society organizations/Non State actors, Development partners, Tradional Institution and Religious organization, Lovers and Advocate of Peace and the general public to be part of the flag off of the Peace Campaign tagged :I Stand For Peace.
During the flag off, we expect the Peace Loving Candidates to give us their message of Peace during the flag off.