Ahead of the 2019 general elections, a cross section of elder statesmen and prominent civil society leaders have raised alarm that the country is drifting towards chaos, hence the need for all to join hands for electoral integrity and stable democratic development.
They said this yesterday in Abuja at a special stakeholders meeting tagged, ‘Civil Society Leaders Stakeholders’ Consultative Meeting on Arresting the Drift Towards Chaos in Nigeria’ with the theme, ‘Return to the Agenda of Peace Building’.
The 15 leaders who spoke at the meeting and others who signed the resolutions were John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Professor Attahiru Jega, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, Ambassador Fatima Balla, Dr Hussaini Abdu and Dr. Ibrahim Yakubu Lame.
Others were Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Dr. Chukwuemeka Eze, Dr. Chris Kwaja, Ms. Idayat Hassan, Mallam Y. Z. Ya’u, Yakubu Aliyu, Dr. Kole Shettima and Dr. Usman Bugaje.
The event, organised under the auspices of ‘The Working Group on Peace Building and Good Governance,’ was organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and the West African Network for Peace (WANEP).
The Senior Fellow, CDD, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim and Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, read the resolutions.
In his opening remarks, Prof. Jega spoke about the dangers of politics of brinkmanship played by Nigeria’s political class, which he said could take the country over the edge if care was not exercised.
On his part, Cardinal Onaiyekan urged Nigerians to be aware of the high number of fake news and images circulating, which were designed to sow the seeds of discord in society.
In his keynote, Professor Gambari said Nigeria was facing an unprecedented existential crisis, hence the urgent need to stop a drift towards chaos, citing the rising culture of violence, the persistent Boko Haram insurgency and the Niger Delta militancy and economic sabotage among others.
