US consul general urges non-violence in governorship election

The US Consul General in Lagos, Jeffrey Hawkins, has urged politicians in Rivers to emulate the spirit of sportsmanship shown by President Goodluck Jonathan and president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari.

Hawkins told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt on Thursday. April 2, that the people should participate actively in the April 11 governorship election.

"Looking forward, we have another election that will take place on April 11 in Rivers and across the country.

"We really want to urge non-violence on the part of the political actors or the people.

"We want the people of Rivers to follow the examples of the president-elect, Buhari, and President Jonathan in the Abuja peace accord, leading to peace,’’ he said.

Hawkins said the US ambassador to Nigeria had signed a peace pledge with three governorship candidates in the state.

"We want to ensure that the security forces continue to protect the people. We want to ensure that the parties act responsibly; we want to commend the use of technology to increase the credibility of the electoral process, and that includes the card readers,’’ he said.

The consul general said the US embassy was hopeful that the card readers would be used for the governorship election.

He urged the people to seek redress in the court where there are cases of injustice and problems, instead of resorting to violence.

He said there is a need for the political actors to refrain from violent behaviours and not to encourage their supporters to intimidate the voters.