Citizens’ Participation In Election Key To Democracy – Bakut

Director-general of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) Dr Bakut T. Bakut, has said that citizens participation in peaceful and violence-free elections in Nigeria will go a long way in promoting democracy in the country.

Bakut said this in his remarks during the opening of the fourth quarter review meeting of the network of policy makers to support reconciliation, peace and security in Nigeria 2022, which was held in Abuja yesterday   with the theme “citizens’ right to participate in peaceful and violence-free election in Nigeria.”

According to the IPCR boss, the objectives are to identify and analyse policies on citizens’ rights to participate in peaceful and violence-free elections in Nigeria as well as raise awareness on citizens’ rights.

He said, “You are all aware that the activities geared towards the 2023 general election are in greater velocity with political actors towing the same old path of violence, manipulation and weaponisation of ethnic, religious, regional and sectional fault-lines.

“As stakeholders in the peace, security and development sector, we must engage the political and election space with our tools for peace re-engineering. We must patiently roll our sleeves and jump into the field and insist that the political and electoral space should remain as peaceful as possible. This is very important because existing threats to peace and security in the country are enough challenges to peaceful and violence-free elections for anyone to add to them.”

He tasked the participants and Nigerians in general to take advantage of the new Electoral Act 2022 that was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari

He said, “We must take advantage of the President’s goodwill and posture  to ensure that Nigerians elect their political leaders in an atmosphere that is devoid of violence, hate speech, fake news, manipulation, intimidation and ill-feelings.”

He also noted that it has become pertinent to improve public policies on inclusive peace and security even as he emphasised the importance of quality education as a tool to enhance sustainable peace and security.

In her keynote address, Dr Hauwa Muhammad Sani, of the Department of English and Linguistics, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, called for peace education and communication even as she advised voters not to succumb to monetary inducement to sell their votes.

She also called on citizens to respect others’ ideological views and promote inter- cultural dialogue.