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Polls: Why election violence must be avoided, BBYDI

An NGO, Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative (BBYDI), says election violence is a major problem to the stability of the country, as well as the well-being of the citizens, and should be avoided.

Mr. Olasupo Abideen, the Global Director of the NGO, said this at the unveiling of the Election Violence Incidence Tracker Dashboard, Launching of Issue Brief, Factsheet and Research.

The unveiling was tagged “Election Violence Landscape in Nigeria: A Critical Intelligence Analysis From 1999 to 2022.

Abideen said that Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, had a long history of election-related violence, with incidents ranging from minor scuffles to full-blown sectarian conflicts.

Abideen, who noted that the consequences of election violence were far-reaching and devastating, said it could lead to loss of lives, damage to property, election mass displacement and a breakdown in social cohesion.

He said election violence could also undermine the legitimacy of the electoral process and discourage citizens from participating in future elections.

According to him, election violence in Nigeria is fueled by a number of factors, which include deep-seated ethnic and religious divisions, lack of trust in the electoral process, and competition for resources and political power.

Abideen also said that violence during elections was more tactical and could be evidenced by the absence, shortage, or late arrival of voting materials, manipulation of the election results, lack of openness in the counting of ballots after voting, among others.

He said electoral violence can take any form, depending on the period of occurrence during the election cycle.

Abideen said to address the problem of election violence in Nigeria, it was important for the government and other stakeholders to adopt a multi-faceted approach.

He said the approaches might include strengthening the electoral process, improving security and the rule of law, promoting dialogue and reconciliation between communities.

Abideen also said that the NGO’s electoral violence incidence tracker, evit.ng would help to mitigate electoral violence, not just by monitoring its incidence, but also by preventing its occurrence.

“The platform will monitor and report in real-time, the early warning signs and triggers of electoral violence across the country.

“We appeal with citizens and security agencies to work with us in achieving this,” he said.

Abideen also said that BBYDI’s electoral violence incidence reporting dashboard would enable citizens to report cases of electoral violence in real-time, identify potential risks with an incident analysis dashboard, detect early warning signs and inform relevant stakeholders.

Stakeholders at the event, in their various contributions, called for violence free elections and commended the NGO for working towards violence free election.

Stakeholders at the event include police and civil defence personnel, Market women and men, Civil Society Organisations, Youth Council, among others.

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