An aspirant in the forthcoming governorship election in Kogi state under the platform of the People Democratic Party (PDP) Dr Joseph Ameh has called on the federal government to create a level playing ground for all the political parties participating in the election to avoid the repeat of electoral violence witnessed in the just concluded national and state assembly election in the state.
Dr Ameh who made the call on Wednesday in Lokoja while reacting to the governorship election time table released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for Kogi and Bayelsa state, said the way and manner elections in the state was militarised by the ruling party during the last elections need to be addressed to avoid electoral violence in the forthcoming election governorship election in Kogi state.
He said : “We can only have free and fair elections if the federal government create a level playing ground for all participating parties. We believe that the federal government will not be insensitive to the situation in Kogi state.
“The federal government cannot also belittle itself to allow gun running and militancy during the governorship election in Kogi state comes November slated for the election.
“If you are popular you don’t need to kill to win an election. This is signal to show that those who used gun in an election are weak . I begin to wonder why the ruling party chasing people away and be carrying ballot boxes it was because they have failed to deliver dividend of democracy to the people.
“We expect that the federal government to allow all the political parties to showcase their strength and popularity”
He pointed out that if the situation witnessed during the state house of assembly in Kogi state repeat itself, it will tarnish the image of the federal government before the international communities.
“We will not leave any stone unturned to impressed it on the federal government to do the needful by creating a level playing ground for all the political parties in Kogi,” he said.
