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From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Hundreds of Women and youths on Tuesday staged a massive peace walk calling for a violent free November 11 governorship election.
The protest organised by Bayelsa Women Arise organization urged President Bola Tinubu and the security agencies, to ensure a peaceful governorship election in the state come November 11 election.
Armed with banners and placards with inscriptions such as “Peaceful Elections for Bayelsa,” “Justice for the Victims,” ,’’Let The Thumb Speak’’ ‘’ Ink Not Guns “Stop Election Violence” they marched from the popular Ekeki Motor Park to Onopa to the Police Headquarters and demanded for justice for the victims of previous election-related violence in the state.
Head of Department, Theatre and Film Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Professor Faith Aminikpo, who led the women to deliver a powerful speech to the police authorities in the state, expressed the collective voice of the women who are tired of witnessing violence during elections.
She said: “We, the women of Bayelsa, are taking a stand for peace. We demand that the upcoming governorship election on November 11 be conducted without violence. We have seen the suffering and pain caused by election-related violence, and we refuse to accept this as the norm.
“We cannot quickly forget the victims of the previous election violence that has been witnessed in our state, particularly in the 2015 and 2019 governorship elections.
“Today, we are yet to get justice for victims of the mindless killing by desperate politicians and their thugs, including those of Simon Otor, Mr Abule, Philip Ochikya, Menoze Peter, ThankGod Michael, Isaac Gift among many others.
“We also call upon President Bola Tinubu to use his influence and authority to ensure that this election is conducted in a peaceful and transparent manner. We believe that it is in the best interest of our beloved state and its citizens that we have a peaceful democratic process,” she said.
The group while acknowledging the efforts of the incumbent administration in fostering peace among the citizens, which in turn, has greatly impacted on the peaceful atmosphere, currently being witnessed, stressed on the need, for the security agencies and stakeholders, to consolidate on the state government’s effort, ahead of the forthcoming election.
Receiving the letter from the women, Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police, Mr Tolani Alausa, expressed support for peaceful election in the state come November 11.
Alausa disclosed that 40,000 security personnel would be deployed for the election to forestall violence.
He said: “Police as a leading agency in the security architecture have taken cognizance of your theme, ‘Never Again’, because it’s apt for this purpose, all the political class need is to play by the rules of the game, never again shall we have people murdered because of election, in the last election, not only civilian were killed but some police officers were also killed.’’
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