Politicians have been advised to uphold peace as a weapon to unite the ethnic plurality of the country.
A former governorship candidate in the 2007 and 2009 elections under the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), in Edo state, Chief Solomon Edebiri, and His Royal Highness, Ochigbo of Kubwa, Igwe Chike Onuora, on separate occasions, gave the advice when the leadership of the Global Network for Peace in Nigeria (GNPN) paid them separate courtesy calls in their different domains at the weekend.
Edebiri, the Ikuobasoyemwen of Benin Kingdom, who is warning up for 2015 governorship election in Edo, on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), noted that peace remained the only driving force for free and fair elections as well co-existence of the citizenry.
He said with a view to attaining peace, there was the need for all and sundry to avoid igniting crisis, adding that by provocation, even in a small measure, one could be fanning the embers of crisis and disunity.
Edebiri, who is expected to chair the inauguration of the GNPN executive and national officers on September 18 in Abuja, said he would continue to support any good spirited organisation on enthronement of peace and unity in the country.
“I have been preaching peace and unity in the country and only recently, I deliver a paper on peace; therefore, your advocacy for peace is apt because there is trouble and seeming war in some areas.”
On his part, Chief Onuora bemoaned bloodletting in the country in the name of insurgency, Fulani herdsmen and farmers and assured that peace followed whoever was looking for peace.
While praying for the progress of the group, he assured of his support and promise to take the massage to other royal fathers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
GNPN’s National Coordinator, Ambassador Odion Okpebholo, said the group was formed to advocate for peace in Nigeria and beyond the shore, adding that the meeting was to intimate the traditional rulers and others about the forthcoming inauguration and other programmes.
National Director of Project, Darlington Ray, exemplified on GNPN projects to include a nationwide football match for Under 19 female and male clubs in the country, as well as enlightenment campaign on the peaceful conduct of the forthcoming 2015 general elections.
