By Adeleye Kunle
A Senior Priest of the African Church, Akwa Ibom State, Reverend Richard Peters, has warned politicians and their followers against employing propaganda, hate speech and blackmail as they go on with their campaigns for the 2023 elections so as not to heat up the polity.
The cleric stated this over the weekend after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other parties flagged off their campaigns.
Peters, who is also the Special Assistant to Governor Udom Emmanuel on Media, also cautioned politicians against deploying violence against people who do not share same political ideology with them, urging them to leverage on the peaceful atmosphere in the state to go about their campaigns.
His words, “My advice to politicians is; as we are already into campaigns for 2023 general elections, they should uphold the political culture of non violence which the governor has established in the state and shun blackmail, propaganda hate speech especially against those who do not share same political ideology with them.”
Peters recalled how the present state government was able to quell the storm in 2019 war song of “warsaw saw war” in the state and the threat of “Federal Might” by towing the path of peace and urged other opponents to maintain the status quo.
“Since the inception of this administration in 2015, it has never been recorded that any person who vied for political office was killed or the family members killed, victimized, tortured or even threatened.
“Then in 2019, we all were here when the sound of “Warsaw saw war” was hitting, the alleged Federal might threat, hilux and walking sticks purchased accross the state? despite all the intimidations, the governor was calm, the only thing he said was that Akwa Ibom people will resist any attempt to jeopardize the interest, safety and peace in the state, and he came out victorious
