*PRESS RELEASE*
*#SaveSouthernIjaw Sit-out advocacy enters Day 5*
Nations have fought wars just to protect their rights to votes and for
their votes to count. The hallmark of civil liberties is democratic
governance.
No constructive and collective measure to uphold the thrust of democracy
can reasonably be termed as extreme or illegitimate. The very essence of
democracy are civil liberties and majority rule in their comprehensive
ramifications.
The denial or suppression of one legitimate right, or the crux of
democratic governance, which is the very will of the people especially in
the face of unrestrained compromises of institutional safeguards, is enough
impetus to use every conceivable effort to correct the anomaly by upholding
the ethos of democracy, accentuating the critical pathos for social
reengineering and instigating the sustenance of the defining logos by which
social equilibrium is framed and dependent.
Silence about the contempt of cherished values is consent that endorses the
ultimate penalty; and it shall be psychotic for the mass of the afflicted
not to collectively forbid such within the body politic of any
retrogressive society.
On December 5th 2015, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,
conducted the Governorship election in Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
The events of that day particularly in the Southern Ijaw Local government
area of the State, showed the desperation of some persons to violate
democratic tenets and ultimately, the rights and dignity of the people of
the Local government, particularly the Women and Young people. People were
killed, injured and eventually prevented from casting the ballot, during
the election, thereby prompting INEC to announce a rescheduled date of
January 9th 2016, for the governorship election, in the Southern Ijaw local
government area of the State.
As stakeholders in the electoral process and ultimately, Pro-Democracy
campaigners, the National Frontiers, on Monday 4th January 2016, began
sit-out advocacy to demand the de-militarization of the electoral process
in Southern Ijaw and the protection of the rights of the people of Southern
Ijaw, particularly the Women and young people against further harassment by
Security agents and their civilian collaborators.
Today being the 5th day of the Sit-Out advocacy, which has held at the
Abuja Unity Fountain since it began, Our group wishes to restate our
opposition to the use of the Military in carrying out the basic security
during elections in Bayelsa State tomorrow and that they should rather
serve as back up to the police and other para-military organs who are
statutorily empowered to manage security during elections.
We are also demanding that everyone arrested for electoral violence during
the last governorship election in Bayelsa and other elections should be
immeidtately prosecuted irrespective of their status.
The government must criminalize rigging and electoral violence as a way of
safeguarding our democracy.
The will of the people must be allowed to prevail and INEC must resist
every external pressure seeking to use the commisision to manipulate the
outcome of the elections in Southern Ijaw local government and future
elections in Nigeria.
We restate that election is not war and not a do or die affair.
*#SaveSouthernIjaw
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