African leaders and politicians have been advised to refrain from labelling opponents as liars, looters and enemies as such unsubstantiated name-calling could trigger violent reactions. The admonition came from participants at a one-day conference on “Peaceful Elections and National Development” organized by The Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF) in Abuja. In a communique issued at end of the conference and made available to the media in Abuja on Saturday, participants, after the deliberations, recommended that politicians in Africa should use politics as a platform for building peace and strengthening cooperation across cultures, religions, ethnicity and political alignment. They also noted that there is an increasing use of politics, particularly, elections as instruments for dividing the population on the basis of primordial sentiments, such as ethnicity, religion and geography;Other observations they made are that elections in Africa have been accorded far too much attention than the more important issues of good governance;“Politicians in Africa deploy dehumanising labels and stereotypes in demonising each other despite the deadly backlash that these portend, as witnessed in Rwanda and Ogoni in Rivers state, southern Nigeria. It was attended by over 550 participants, including former heads of state, members of the diplomatic community, development partners, the ECOWAS Commission, Nigeria Police Force, academia, civil society organisations, media, women and youth leaders.

Source: Nigerian Tribune February 09, 2019 19:07 UTC