From Aloysius

Attah, Onitsha

The Anambra State chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to clearly state the amount of money that each candidate must not exceed during the Anambra governorship campaign.

In a statement jointly signed by its state chairman, Vincent Ezekwueme, Secretary, Chidi Mbah and publicity secretary, Nicholas Amoke the CLO frowned on the amount of money spent by aspirants during the primaries and described the situation as a threat towards enthronement of true democratic governance in the country.

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 “It is imperative and inevitable for INEC to stipulate the amount of money candidates will spend for various elective offices in Nigeria and also ensure that the ceiling is maintained. It is also of prime importance that candidates should embark on aggressive issue based campaigns devoid of casting aspersions on their opponents, name-callings, hate speeches, campaign of calumny, monetary inducement of electorates and use of thugs.

“We wish to remind candidates that, it is sacrosanct that only one candidate will emerge winner in the end while losers today may be winners tomorrow. Candidates must out of patriotism think about the next generation and not the next election” it said.

The CLO also called on INEC and security agencies to ensure that the election will be credible, free, fair and transparent, while warning that the coalition of civil society organisations will not accept anything to the contrary after the election.

The organization commended the Progressives People Alliance (PPA), All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other parties for the rancour-free manner in which they conducted their respective primary elections and also urged the candidates in the interest of democracy to be magnanimous in victory by carrying other aspirants   that lost out and their supporters along.