March 11 Polls: CAPPA Urges Media To Help Douse Tension Over Possible Violence

A civil society organisation, the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), has called on the media to use its platforms to douse the tension of possible outbreak of violence during the March 11 Gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections in the country.

CAPPA executive director, Akinbode Mathew Oluwafemi, made the call on Monday while speaking during a media engagement in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The media engagement with the theme, “Inception Media Roundtable Forum On Peaceful and Non-violent Elections”, was organised by the organisation, in collaboration with the European Union (EU) Support For Democratic Governance In Nigeria Phase II (EU SDGN II).

Oluwafemi said: “We are in the middle of an election. The presidential election had been conducted and there were pockets of violence here and there. We are preparing for the governorship election. I have had from politicians day every politics is local.

“That informs why there is still tension across the country. Infact, in some states, the contestation for governorship is very well higher than even the Presidency and several states are being on very high alert as regards the governorship election.

“Without mincing words, Rivers is one of the states where the local dynamics is extremely volatile. Almost every bookmaker is predicting the possibility of some level of violence during the governorship election.

“That is why our engagement here in Port Harcourt is extremely important in terms of engaging the media on how we can use our platforms to douse the tension and not in anyway willing or wittingly contribute to the tension thereby causing more election related violence in the country.”

Presenting a paper titled, “Engaging the Media in Peace Building”, Policy and Research Officer, CAPPA, Zikora Ibeh, said the media can play a major role in challenging hate speech and misinformation in the country.

Ibeh said: “Media can play a role in challenging hate speech and misinformation by calling out and correcting false information. This helps to reduce tensions in our polity.”