By Desmond Ejibas
Port Harcourt – As the date for commencement of campaigns draws nearer, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) on Thursday urged political parties in the country to engage in issue-based campaigns.
The National Legal Adviser of CDHR, Comrade Henry Ekini who made the call at a news conference to commemorate the 2023 International Day of Democracy in Port Harcourt.
The theme of the event is “Promoting Human Rights, Rule of Law, Democracy and Good Governance.”
Ekini said campaigns which would x-ray the country’s problems and proffer solutions would enable voters to choose the right leaders.
“Issue-based campaigns will provide the electorates with a viable opportunity to make informed decisions with respect to who to vote for.
“It is imperative to have our campaigns in this direction rather than converging in a stadium and engaging musical artistes, comedians and entertainers for a stage show,” he said.
He said that political parties needed to convince the electorate by focussing on critical issues, and how they intended to address them if their candidates were elected into office.
“This is because election campaigns are meant to be the means by which candidates and their political parties present their ideas and positions on issues to the voters.
“Political campaigns are expected to focus on identifying the real challenges confronting the people and demonstrating understanding of the current situation of those challenges.
“The campaigns should present concrete strategic roadmaps to contain those challenges, giving targets and timeliness as well as stating how realistic those roadmaps could be achieved,” he said.
Ekini, a lawyer, said that political parties must also organise campaigns that would be peaceful and transparent.
He noted that Section 91 of the Electoral Act barred security agencies, including orderlies of politicians against carrying arms to political campaigns, unless they were authorised and specifically posted to the campaign.
According to him, the act also prohibits the use of abusive slogans targeted at religious, ethnic, tribal or sectional feelings either directly or indirectly during the campaigns.
“Thus, abusive, intemperate defamatory or demeaning insinuations likely to provoke violent or emotional reaction should not be used in campaigns,” he added.
He said that CDHR, in collaboration with other civil society organisations, would deploy personnel to observe the campaigns, to ensure they complied with the electoral act. (NAN)
