The Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) has cautioned political parties against thuggery and electoral violence, in line with the peace accord for the 2023 general election.
Ms Faith Nwadishi, the Executive Director, CTA, said this when she spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday.
Nwadishi said that the peace accord must be strictly adhered to by the parties, because they have committed themselves to a peaceful conduct by signing the agreement.
“They should begin to take on the responsibility of educating their followers by showing example of not addressing their opponents or other political parties in derogatory terms.
“The political parties and the candidates have signed the peace accord. If they can adhere to addressing the issues, I’m sure that their followers also will respect these boundaries and be able to do that,” she said.
She urged politicians to conduct themselves in line with the electoral act, throughout the electioneering campaign as well as the election period.
The executive director also tasked security agencies to ensure strict compliance with the electoral act by enforcing all its provisions.
“Get people who are making hate-speeches and prosecute them so that the level of impunity can be reduced; people will know that once they break the law that there is a penalty.
“There is a responsibility that is put on all of us to ensure that we respect the laws of the lands.In the past, people have participated in this kind of violence and they went away free without any consequence so the other people looking up to them may feel that is the way of life.
“Directly or indirectly these people became influencers on the young people.
“If a youth decides to participate in thuggery and is used to perpetrate violence during campaigns and during election and the person is caught the likelihood is that the party top shot who gave him money to do that might not be affected when trouble comes,” she said.