News: Nigeria’s unity under threat after polls – NHRC

The National Human Rights Commission said on Thursday that the level of violence and hate speech that had characterised the preparation for the forthcoming polls might have put the nation at a risk of facing national cohesion problems after the conduct of the elections.

Chairman, Governing Council of the NHRC, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, said this at a pre-election briefing tagged ‘Protecting the people, preserving the franchise’, ahead of the Saturday and April 11, 2015 elections.

Odinlalu added that the peace accord signed by various political parties and their presidential candidate might have broken down.

“The level of hate speech and violence in the country is such that after the elections, we will be faced with problems of cohesion,” Odinkalu said.

He also said that “internal migrants and minorities are in mortal fears” ahead of the elections.

“There is trans-human migration across the hemisphere. Those who are from the South but are in the North, are returning to the South, and those that are from the North but living in the South, are returning to the North,” he said.

He explained that the visits of the NHRC’s delegations to various parts of the country confirmed the commission’s earlier assessment of the escalation of election violence and hate speech in many parts of the country.

He added that there were additional findings of proliferation of militias and gangs; small arms and light weapons and allegations or perceptions of law enforcement uneven-handedness in many states.

Odinkalu stated, “In all the locations, the parties suggest that the accords signed between parties to promote issued-based campaigning and refrain from violence had broken down almost irretrievably. There is mutual suspicion and lack of good faith between the parties.”

Odinkalu said within six weeks after it issued a report and advisory on hate speech and pre-election violence on February 13, 2015, the commission had recorded over 200 per cent increase in the number of petitions received on election-related violence.

He said Lagos, Rivers, Kaduna and Ekiti states topped the list of state from which the commission had received the highest number of election-related violence.