Ex-Militant leader Ramsey Mukoro is alarmed over the courting of the support of former agitators by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State for the forthcoming governorship contest.
Mr. Mukoro, the leader of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators Solidarity Front (NDESF), described the alignment of candidates with various ex-militant groups as a recipe for violence during the polls.
Speaking in Yenagoa, he therefore advised political parties, their governorship aspirants and ex-militants to shun violence in the governorship election which is taking place on December 5th.
He specifically appealed to the ex-agitators to remain neutral, so as to avoid overheating the polity and causing apprehension in the mind of the electorate.
Mr. Mukoro warned that although it is the right of the ex-militants to support candidates of their choice, it is in the strategic interest of their leaders to keep their political preferences private.
He said that doing so will engender a peaceful atmosphere for the elections to be held, and enable the most popular candidate to emerge through a credible process.
Mr. Mukoro condemned the idea of using ex-militants leaders for political purposes by various political parties during their electioneering campaigns.
“As leaders, I personally feel that we should play the role of peace advocates and ensure that we have a violence-free poll, but a situation where politicians are scrambling for (the) endorsement of ex-agitators sends the wrong signals,” he stressed, adding that all the aspirants are brothers and all are Bayelsa people.
“If we all love Bayelsa, we should encourage peace and show support for our proffered candidates by voting for them,” he said. “The idea of ex-militants grouping along ethnic and party lines suggests that there is going to be a clash and we should all guard against it as it will drag us back to the dark era that we have left behind, we should be making progress.”