Omoniyi Salaudeen

AN appeal has gone to political parties and prospective aspirants for the November 16 governorship election in Bayelsa State to eschew violence and play by the rules of the game.

This was contained in the communiqué issued yesterday by the Ijaw Elders Forum and other collaborating groups following a peace workshop organized in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, to sensitise the people on the need for a credible and violence-free election.

A release made available to Sunday Sun reads in part: “Every person aspiring to provide leadership to be the governor of Bayelsa State must eschew violence at all times; we must not seek to be elected through the use of guns.

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“All aspirants for the office of governor of Bayelsa State must subscribe to the conduct of peaceful elections. No aspirants should seek to provide leadership and governance on blood of fellow Bayelsans.

“Bayelsans must reject any candidate who employs violence, provides guns to kill fellow Ijaw men and women to gain ascendancy to the seat of power as governor of Bayelsa State.

Lamenting the leadership problem confronting the state, the group tasked the political actors in the state to focus on human capacity development to change the trajectory of “unaccountable leadership.”  “Education is the most important weapon every leader should focus upon to advance a people-driven government,” it stated.