A one time governorship hopeful in Rivers State, Prince Tonye Princewill, has said there will be no electoral violence in the state during the 2019 general elections.
Princewill who is a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress, APC, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, advising residents of the state to erase their minds from wrong perception in some quarters in the area of possibility of electoral violence next year.
He said that those with such idea were those that had lost hope in the possibility of a peaceful and credible election in the state.
According to him, the perception of people followed the spate of violence, especially during the suspended Port Harcourt Constituency 3 election held some months ago.
He said although there were some pockets of violence in parts of the state, the people should not rule out the possibility of a violence-free electoral process.
The APC stalwart explained that some individuals had tagged the state ‘violence prone’ with the feeling that nothing could be done to reverse the ugly trend.
He said: ”For us in Rivers, the message of peace is very important, some individuals have taken for granted the fact that the state is struggling with violence, insecurity and other social vices to label it crisis prone.
“Some perceived a negative outcome on the forthcoming general elections in Rivers to develop the feeling that the state would be characterised by violence.
“We should be cautious about what we say because hate speech is also a threat to national peace, our words could ignite violence too.
“I have lent from our gubernatorial candidate, Mr Tonye Cole, that politics should be devoid of bickering and hate speech.
“That is why I have turned down every verbal attacks on the present the Wike led-administration.
“Now I can see that there is no need heating the polity with utterances or statements that could be misinterpreted.
“I believe that our political opponents would feel the same way to help us achieve credible elections, because it takes two to tango.“
Princewill commended the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for seeing Nigerians through strict economic experience necessary to put the economy back on the path of growth.
He said that achievements so far made on the 2018 budget showed effective fund utilisation of limited resources to better the lot of the people and a sincerity on the part of the Federal Government.
Princewill, therefore, urged Nigerians to rally support for Buhari to enable him consolidate on his achievements, adding that a credible election in all parts of the country was non negotiable.
