Africa Leadership Group (ALG) has urged Nigerians to shun violence during the forthcoming general elections.
The Chairman and Founder, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo stated this at the launch of the group’s assessment tools, held in Lagos.
He said: “With less than 14 days to the general elections, acrimony among the major political parties continues to rise and frustration with the nation’s leaders is growing as Nigerians experience severe shortages of fuel and redesigned bank notes, resulting in public disturbances and riots throughout the country”.
Pastor Ighodalo stressed that all Nigerians should be allowed to exercise their civic rights without fear or Intimidation as “Nigeria cannot afford to get it wrong this time”
He said: ”Our first stance is that the election must hold, there is a rumor that it might not hold, there is a rumor that some people want to impose an interim government, there is rumor that people want to scatter it. There is a rumor that they may postpone it by a few weeks or so for whatever reasons we would prefer the election held as planned.”
He urged Nigerians to intentionally and carefully select leaders fit for purpose at this time who can lead us out of this national crisis.
Speaking on the many interventions of the group since it was founded in 2020, Pastor Ighodalo said: “ALG and its local associate, Nigeria Leadership Series, have established a credible platform for dialogue and exploring solutions among citizens and credible experts on critical issues regarding national development and humanitarian assistance”.
The Executive Secretary and Program Director of the group, Olu-Victor Oyinloye urged Nigerians to ensure they participate in the elections.
He said: “This year’s election in is very critical and very important to this generation and generations yet to come so that Nigeria can be on track of good governance and be on track for development.
“Nation building is a collective effort and all of us need to put our hand on deck to achieve a good nation that we all desire”.