ENSIEC urges candidates to shun personal attacks

ENUGU— As seven political parties prepare to contest the Sept. 26 local government elections in Enugu State, the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) has urged candidates and their supporters to focus on issues and avoid personal attacks capable of heating up the polity.

The election will produce chairmen for the state’s 17 local government areas and councillors for 260 wards. ENSIEC has said preparations are ongoing to ensure a peaceful, transparent and credible exercise.

The Chairman of ENSIEC, Prof. Christian Ngwu, gave the advice in an interview with newsmen on Friday in Enugu, as electioneering campaigns for the council polls gather momentum.

Ngwu said campaigns should be peaceful, issue-based and people-oriented, rather than acrimonious, volatile and characterised by attacks on the personalities of opponents.

He said the commission expected a rancour-free campaign ahead of the Sept. 26 polls, urging candidates to take their messages to communities and neighbourhoods and explain their programmes to the electorate.

“Go to the field and tell the people what you have for them and your plans to focus on issues that will better their lives and uplift them from inadequacies.

“We also want the electorate to ask political gladiators relevant questions on how they plan to carry out their campaign promises,” he said.

The ENSIEC chairman said the commission was averse to personality and reputation attacks, noting that such conduct could trigger political violence and bitter rancour.

“No one should heat up the polity with uncultured and abusive language that attacks individual candidates’ personalities.

“Let us do well to keep the campaigns civil and accommodating, making the welfare of the people, who are the electorate, the main focus,” he said.

Ngwu urged the electorate to hold candidates accountable by asking questions about their campaign promises and how they intended to implement them if elected.

He said candidates should use the campaign period to present practical solutions to challenges confronting residents and explain how their proposed programmes would improve the lives of the people.

The Sept. 26 election will cover all 17 local government areas of the state, with 17 chairmanship and 260 councillorship positions to be contested.

ENSIEC had also concluded a two-day train-the-trainer workshop for 47 officials ahead of the poll. The participants comprised 17 Electoral Officers, 17 Assistant Electoral Officers, seven directors, five commissioners and an administrative secretary.

The commission said the trained officials would subsequently cascade the training to ad hoc personnel at the local government level as part of preparations for the election.

(NAN)