Guber poll: Don’t threaten Bayelsa’s peace with unguarded utterances – Group urges politicians
Ahead of the November 11 governorship election in Bayelsa State, political actors have been cautioned against reckless and unguarded utterances capable of undermining the prevailing peace in the state.
A concerned group, the Network of Bayelsa Professionals (NBP), made the appeal in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.
In the statement signed by the Co-ordinator, Mr Agbada S. Agbada, the group said while individuals reserve the right to aspire to any elective office, such aspirations must be pursued with decency and moderation to preserve the relative peace the State has experienced in the past few years.
“As we draw closer to the November 2023 gubernatorial elections in the State, it has become imperative for us to sound a note of caution to politicians to avoid unguarded utterances and conduct that will heat up the polity and jeopardise the relative peace the State has enjoyed for the past few years.
“As Bayelsans who are seeking to lead the State, we expect that the collective interest of Bayelsans will be the overriding consideration. Therefore, all political actors have a duty to preserve the relative peace the present administration has laboured to achieve.
“Recent utterances of some aspirants reflect a fixation on the abhorrent politics of mudslinging and desperation. We note that such utterances could easily heat up the polity and threaten the relative peace in the State.
“While we acknowledge the constitutional rights of qualified Bayelsans to freely aspire to lead the State and encourage active participation by Bayelsans in the electoral process, we advise political actors to avoid politics of bitterness and rancour and take the path of brotherhood, decency, mutual respect and peace in their political campaigns,” the statement read.
The group commended Governor Douye Diri for his commitment to peace.
It urged media organisations not to allow their platforms to be used by politicians to promote hate, campaign of calumny and other inciting and provocative remarks.
“Bayelsa is our only home and we have a collective responsibility to protect it from politicians who place their ambitions above the interest of the State,” it added.
