No Politician Has The Right To Close The Door Of His Community Against Other Candidates From Campaigning – Imoke

By Aplefe Ojong

The Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke has warned that no political ambition of any politician, no matter how highly placed, was worth the blood of anybody. The governor also added that nobody or politician has the right to close the door of his/her community against other candidates from going there to campaign.

Senator Imoke who stated this on Thursday at the Palace of the Obol Lopon of Ekori, HRH Donatus I. Ofem when he paid a visit to Ekori, Yakurr Local Government Area of the state, where fracas broke out between supporters of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and those of the Labour Party (LP) on Tuesday said that it was disheartening that some persons had become so emotionless that they could kill or cause others to kill in the name of politics and seeking for political positions.

Imoke who was represented by the Special Adviser, Orientation and Public Affairs, Professor Osam Edim Temple reasoned that violence was the law of beasts, but that human beings are supposed to engage in discussion and dialogue and that this was what differentiate us from animals, stressing that people can come from the same house but belong to different political platform and political persuasion, but that this should not make them to live in bitterness and hatred.

He said that “nobody or politician has the right to close the door of his/her community against other candidates from going there to campaign, the entire door of the state should be open to all for campaigns just as there should be a level playing ground for all irrespective of their political coloration or platform.”

The governor stressed the need for people to love one another as after all said and done we will remain as brothers and sisters, but we will not be able to replace the lives that had been lost through violence, adding that violence is not in our character and is not in our culture, but that the number one value of the state is faith in God, peaceful co-existence which has placed us as the most peaceful in Nigeria.

Imoke vowed that his administration will not tolerate the ugly spectacle of violence that is crippling gradually into our body politics and that all merchants of violence would be treated with zero tolerance no matter how highly placed, maintaining that he was aware that majority of the people of Cross River state were peace makers and only a negligible few were merchants of violence.

Imoke stressed the need for fathers and mothers to always advise their children not to allow any body to use them for evil, while stressing that politicians should have conscience to know that if somebody dies on their account the blood of such a person is on their heads and that they should step down from whatsoever political position they were occupying because they have failed.

Senator Imoke told the Obol Lopon and his Council of Chiefs that the White Flags he came with were a symbol of peace, that he desire peace o return to Ekori land and Yakurr. “Iam here to ask you for peace in Ekori, my heart bleeds; I don’t understand why we would have to sacrifice our lives for political positions. This means that some persons are in politics for their own interest and not to serve the people”.

“If you want to serve the people it is hard work, sacrifice, it is something the people should ask you to come and represent them, not you fighting to and insisting you want to represent them. Markets, banks, schools and businesses have been shut down in Ekori because somebody wants to go to the House of Representatives”.