Disturbed by the do-or-die attitude of politicians ahead of 2015 general elections, a coalition of 40 Igbo groups, the South-East Self-Determination Coalition, SESD, has urged politicians to desist from heating up the polity and preparing grounds for post-election violence and killings.
Recalling the killings that trailed the 2011 presidential polls, the SESD Coordinator, Samuel Edeson and Assistant Coordinator, Greg Echewodo, in a statement, advised politicians to stop inciting their supporters.
They said: “Three months to the 2015 presidential elections, we find it absolutely necessary to raise our voice in warning over fears of post election killings expected to happen in Northern Nigeria, in February, 2015.
It is clear that only one winner will emerge from every contest, but the desperation for central power, usually blinds losers to this fact.
The April 2011 brutal killing of close to a thousand Nigerians and the statements about soakings dog and baboon in blood, confirm that should certain candidates lose the presidential polls, their already incited followers, will likely unleash terror on people they perceived voted the other way.
‘’The unitary structure of Nigeria and the over powerful centre usually drives the stakes very high during power contest… Since some people have already decided the results of the February 2015 polls in their hearts, even before the elections proper.
“It is easy to see how bloody their reactions will turn if things don’t turn their way. They will always claim elections were rigged to justify their plot to activate riots and killing of unarmed civilians, usually those from the other regions.
‘’The decades old culture of pogroms have been used in the past to successfully achieve regime change by force, hence we suspect the temptation to incite violence in February 2015 elections will be too strong for them to resist.
While we appeal to the international election observers and our own security apparatus to monitor the polls closely, we assure those cold blooded murderers that this time, their blood thirsty campaign will not go un-replied.
The die is cast, the prophetic year 2015 is here and the very survival of Nigeria may be decided in three months, as the desperation for power to return to certain region by all means might decide the fate of Nigeria.‘
vanguard
