National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer, NEPAD Nigeria, Princess Gloria Akobundu has called on Nigerian politicians to be more civil in their quest for power rather than engaging in sponsoring acts of violence which, she stressed, has impeded the growth of the continent’s democratic order.
The NEPAD Nigeria CEO, who stated the above on her arrival from Senegal last week where she had attended a workshop on Elections and Violence in Africa, promised to avail herself of the outcome of the session she had attended to draw the attention of Nigeria’s political elite to the menace of violence in our elections and its capacity to upstage the current democratic order. Princess Akobundu further stated that wrong candidates in an election will continue to be elected if electoral violence is allowed to go unchecked in the country.
In her words:“For me, discussions in Senegal were an eye-opener to the deep evil violence in elections brings on society. We must, as a people, stand up to speak against it; to condemn it in the loudest of voices and to really set in motion processes for punitive measures for all those who sponsor violence in elections, those who involve themselves in it and those who benefit by it. If only that would be a deterrent to others, our aim will be achieved in the end”, she stated.
According to the NEPAD Nigeria boss, the Dakar meeting brought together various stakeholders which included AU, NEPAD/APRM Nigeria, APRM Secretariat, African Governance Institute as well as Mo Ibrahim Foundation, GIZ and some Ambassadors of African countries to Senegal, to brainstorm on electoral violence as a challenge facing African countries in managing the democratic order that is increasingly being established across the continent.
The meeting, which was convened in preparation for a high-level one in Nigeria scheduled for a future date, also resolved to hold similar consultative meetings in Senegal, Kenya and Cameroun during which more discussions on draft budget for GIZ, beefing up of the Concept Note and other intellectual papers would be discussed. Highlight of the meeting was the agreement by all those in attendance to implement all decisions reached.
