Lucky Obukohwo ReportingÂ
The Justice Development and Peace Caritas Initiative (JDPCI) of the Uromi Catholic Diocese, has urged Nigerians to redeem the country by using their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) wisely in the forthcoming general elections in the country.
The Executive Director, Uromi JDPCI, Very Rev. Fr. (Dr) Fidelis Arhedo gave the charge at the annual stakeholders congress/peace accord with the various political parties in Esan land held at Uromi and organized by JDPCI.
According to him “We can regain Nigeria through these great elections for Nigeria as a great nation.
“We, Nigerians must be united to defend Nigeria’s sovereignty and protect this project through this election.
“This general election must be credible by being free, fair and peaceful.
“As such, Nigerians with PVC should cast their vote without fear or intimidation.
“We must be certain too that violence has no place in democratic election either before, during or after elections”.
“My beloved friends, we gather here today, to agree on a common goal which is to have a free, fair and peaceful election through out Esan land which is Edo Central Senatorial District.
“Let us therefore reaffirm our commitment to the development and unity of our land by coming together to declare our intention for peaceful and a violence free election”.
Also in a goodwill message, the Director, Catholic CHESS, Very Rev Fr, Johnbosco Eizehi admonished the people to use their PVC wisely and enthrone a people friendly government.
According to him, “The power to enthrone good leaders is in your hands, with your PVC.
“You know those contesting, you know their past, you know their antecedents; so use your PVC to enthrone good leaders or bad leaders as you may deem fit.
In a paper presentation titled “Promoting Human Rights for Violence Free Society” by the Edo State Coordinator of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Olumide Dosumu, appealed to political party leaders and their candidates via Zoom to avoid the deployment of hate speeches in their campaigns, stressing that, hate speech is one of the issues that trigger violence during electioneering.
He said the National Human Rights Commission has established a hate speech register to document promoters of hate speech and appealed to the police and other security agencies to be professional in their discharge of election duties.