From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
The North West lead partner/implementer of the Vote Not Fight Campaign, Jesz Development Foundation on Wednesday condemned the violent attack on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) rally in Kaduna State on Monday.
The Foundation also called for more proactive measures on the mitigation of the ravaging floods in different parts of the country which have claimed several lives and destroyed property and farmlands.
The Executive Director of the Foundation, Zigwai Ayuba in a statement lamented that the violent attack in Kaduna contradicts the peace accord signed by all political parties at the beginning of the 2023 election campaigns in the country.
According to her, “all political parties under the guidance of the National Peace Committee signed up to a peace accord for peaceful campaigns towards the 2023 general elections on the 29th of September 2022.
“This implies that every political party in the country has a right to campaign in any location of its choice without causing/inciting violence.
“Unfortunately, On 17th October 2022, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) held its presidential campaign rally at Ranchers Bees stadium, Kaduna and it is confirmed that some thugs disrupted the campaign as reported by National dailies and seen on various social media handles.
“This was further confirmed by a tweet from the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and a Facebook post by the state PDP youth leader, Aliyu Bello. An attack on one political party or its candidate is an attack on all political parties in the country.
“An attack of any form especially of violence is also an attack against the vote not fight campaign.
Jesz Development Foundation and all its collaborators in the North West region therefore strongly condemn this undemocratic act and call on the security to deal with the perpetrators and their sponsors decisively to discourage all forms of political violence and promote peaceful political participation.
“We caution all political parties, candidates, and supporters against all actions that incite electoral violence”, she said.
On flood disasters, she said, “we sympathise with all those affected by the recent flood disaster in the North West region of Nigeria and other parts of the country.
“We call on various state emergency agencies and also NEMA to do more at ensuring that the affected people find some relief while encouraging people to do more in moving out from flood-prone areas after early warning reports have been made public.
“We will continue to do our best to support processes that can make life better for all Nigerians.#VoteNotFight, #ElectionNoBeWar.”