The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has urged stakeholders to figure out the problem of attacks during political rallies ahead of the 2023 elections before it escalates.
This admonition was given by the NIPR National President, Mallam Muktar Sirajo at the Wazobia 2022 Virtual Summit organised in collaboration with Africa Fora during the weekend.
He noted that processes leading to the election were as critical as the outcomes, describing the violence at the campaign venues as worrisome.
“As a relationship building and communication management entity, the NIPR condemns in very strong terms, what we describe as the three-dimensional attacks rearing their ugly heads at the political campaigns that have begun – physical attacks and violence, throwing of stones at rallies and verbal attacks by unskilled spokesmen across the board.
“The situation has become worrisome and the institute is concerned about the reputation of the country. Therefore, we are interested and ready to pay greater attention to issues of the credibility of electoral processes and the security of votes in the forthcoming elections. This election must become a cutting edge for our nation,” Sirajo noted.
He also highlighted the continuation of a culture of non-issues-based campaigns, political thuggery, and violation of the peace accord signed by all parties.
“For instance, at a time this nation is in dire need of unifying forces, has never been this divided, some of the actors on the field do not see anything wrong in accentuating and stretching our fault lines to their selfish but myopic advantages.
“They are turning leadership into turn-by-turn stuff as if that is what will guarantee food on the tables for our impoverished families, quality education for our children, quality healthcare, and security for all, among others. No nation can progress in this pathway of error. Therefore, there is a need to rethink first, our attitude toward the affairs of our country.
“As we approach these elections we must all rise up and in one voice let the political class know that what we require is a leadership that will look at, see and deploy the diversity with which God has endowed our country for the blessing that it is,” Sirajo said.
The NIPR president urged the electorate to engage with those wanting to preside over their affairs, rather than dwell on mundane and accidental issues of geography, ethnicity, or faith over which nobody has any control.
He noted that there is a very urgent need to come up with a development-oriented pattern of engagement and communication with one another, based on principles of universal truths.
“As professional communicators, it is also evident from what we see, hear and smell, that there is an urgent need to rethink Nigeria and the time is now. Rethinking Nigeria implies interrogating the existing system and culture in all spheres of our national life, with a view to unlearning the negative behaviors and relearning the right principles,” he maintained.