By Kevin Okunzuwa
Edo PDP governorship candidate, Dr Asue Ighodalo, has appealed to his fellow contestants in the Sept. 21 election to maintain decorum in their campaigns, starting Wednesday.
Ighodalo’s appeal is contained in a statement issued by the Asue Ighodalo Media Team on Wednesday in Benin.
The PDP gubernatorial hopeful urged his counterparts in the other 16 political parties to endeavour to focus on issues and not dwell on inanities in their campaigns.
“I sincerely believe that we are ready for the campaigns as INEC has formally lifted the ban on public campaigns for the September election from today, April 24.
“On our part, we are ready to play by the rules. We will focus on issues.
“Edo people want to know and hear us talk about what we are bringing to the table to solve the problems of insecurity, poverty, infrastructure and many more. We will make decorum our watchword.
“Therefore, I want to appeal to all the other political parties, and in particular, their candidates, to please, let us dwell on issues and not on inanities,” he said.
According to him, candidates and their supporters must do everything to avoid campaigns of calumny.
He said they should avoid character assassination, deliberately peddling falsehood against individuals and trying to tie and link them to what they know nothing about.
“We will be very deliberate and intentional in our campaigns by selling our manifesto to the electorate and persuading them to vote for us.
“We expect others to do the same. Let’s refrain from attacking individuals and personalities, and stop throwing dirt and mud on people because of their political persuasions.
“If we all play by these rules, the atmosphere will be convivial for all of us and thus reduce the possibility of electoral hostilities and violence.
“We must bear in mind that we are brothers and sisters, and all we want is the progress and development of our dear state,” Ighodalo said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that INEC had, in a statement issued on Monday, announced that campaigns for the election would begin on Wednesday.
Mr Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, made the announcement.
Olumekun said, “As provided by Section 92(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, campaigns by political parties in public shall commence not earlier than 150 days before polling day and end 24 hours prior to that day.
“Therefore, political parties are now permitted to start their campaigns in public from Wednesday, April 24 and end at midnight on Thursday, September 19, as indicated in items 8 and 12 of the timetable and schedule of activities for the election.”
(NAN)
